Blast From The Past
by Rhiannon Faylinn
Summary: (AU) Someone from Josh's past is in town. His cousin. Once, they had no secrets between them. Can He keep her from finding out about his secret identity? Reveiws welcome. COMPLETE!
1. Mindy McGrath

Disclaimer: I do not own Max Steel, any of the characters from the show or anything affiliated with the show. I am just borrowing. Please don't sue me. It's not like you'd get a whole lot anyway. I've got a really shallow pocket. Mindy/Morgan McGrath, however, is my creation. I worked very hard to come up with her, so if you use her without my permission, I will be suing you.  
  
Summary: Josh's cousin comes to Del Oro. They were very close, but haven't seen one another in 5 years. They had always told each other everything. Now he has to keep her from finding out about his doubl-life as Max Steel. But can he do that, still remain as close as they have always been and protect her from his enemies at the same time?  
  
A/N: Josh's cousin is named Mindy McGrath, but Josh calls her Morgan. It's a thing from when they were kids. I'll explain later. Sorry if it's a little confusing.  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER ONE  
  
The airport was crowded today. Not surprising, really. In less than a month summer would be over. People were either going home or trying to cram as much fun as possible into the little time they had left before it was back to school, back to the office, or whatever. No matter what people were going back to, summer was ending and the airport was total chaos.  
  
"Flight 227 now unloading at gate 23," said a voice over the loudspeaker.  
  
"Finally," mumbled a youth in the crowd. His name was Josh McGrath. He was fairly tall, blond, tanned to perfection and muscular. His brown eyes focused mainly on his goal, gate 23, as he manuvered though the crowd.  
  
Passengers came pouring out of the gate. Mostly tourists. Josh frantically searched them with his eyes. His heart was thumping in anticipation. Finally, he spotted a girl coming through the gate. A smile spread across her face as he recognized her.  
  
She was one of the last ones off the plane. She had a tan overnight bag, her carry-on for the trip, slung over her shoulder. She scanned the crowd, pushing a stray lock of brown hair behind her ear. Would she recognize him? It had been a long time. There were so many people here. That, coupled with the fact that she was only about 5'3", was making it hard to spot him. Standing on her tip-toes, she tried to look out over the crowd. Finally, she spotted a tall, blond guy making his way through the throng of people. Elongating her body as much as possible and waved frantically, hoping he could see her.  
  
"Josh!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. Immeadiatly, she was lifted off her feet. Now eye level, she planted a kiss on his cheek and hugged him tight.  
  
He responded in kind. "Hey Morgan," he said cheerfully. After a minute he put her down and took a step back. He looked her up and down. Jeans and running shoes. No surprise there. What surprised him was the v-neck t-shirt and the changes in her figure. Five years had certainly changed her, but she was still his baby cousin.  
  
"How was the flight?" he asked as they headed for the luggage claim area.  
  
"Boring as hell."  
  
"Still blunt as ever I see," he laughed.  
  
"And proud of it."  
  
Less than an hour later, they arrived at Josh's beach house. Josh carried her two suitcases into an extra bedroom. Then they headed over to N'Tek.  
  
"Hey, Maureen," said Josh. Is dad in his office?"  
  
"Yes. I'll have to call in and make sure he's available," responded the secretary. "Why don't you have a seat."  
  
Josh nodded and pulled Morgan to some chairs while Maureen called his foster father. He was expecting them, but he might be down in the secret headquarters. Josh knew all about it. He did work there after all.  
  
"You can go in now."  
  
"Thanks." With that, Josh led his cousin into his foster father's office.  
  
Jefferson Smith stood as they entered. He smiled broadly. "Mindy," he said. He moved around the desk and hugged the young woman. "It's been a long time."  
  
"Hi, Uncle Jeff," said Mindy, hugging him back. "Five years to be exact."  
  
"That would make you 19 now, right?"  
  
"In about 2 weeks. The 18th."  
  
"Hmm. Remind me, how long are you staying?"  
  
"Two weeks."  
  
The phone rang. He answered it. "Jefferson Smith." He listened for a moment. A frown creased his brow. "Alright." He hung up and looked apologetically at his son and niece. I'm sorry, but we'll have to talk another time. Something unexpected has come up. I'll see you both later."  
  
Josh and Mindy said goodbye and Josh led her from the room. He knew his dad would be using the secret elevator by the look on his face. That was something Mindy didn't need to know about. He hoped whatever the unexpected business was didn't require Max Steel for the job. He'd been promised at least a week of emergency only duty. He hadn't seen his only cousin in years and wanted to spend some time with her. The rest of the team seemed to understand that. Most of the team, anyway.  
  
On the way back to Josh's, they caught up a bit. Mostly basic stuff. School, family, friends, relationships, jobs. It was less than a half hour drive in good traffic, so they didn't get into details, for which Josh was grateful, since he couldn't really tell her about his job.  
  
When they arrived, Mindy went to unpack. Josh rested for a few minutes. After a while, he picked up the phone. He dialed Pete Costas number.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, man."  
  
"Josh. What's up?"  
  
"Well, uh, Mindy came to visit today. I was thinking about taking her ice skating. You wanna go?"  
  
"Mindy? As in the pest from hell Mindy?" groaned Pete. "No thanks."  
  
"Oh, come on. She's not that annoying."  
  
Pete snorted. "Yeah, and your job isn't hazardous to your health. Josh she followed you around like a puppy whenever she came to visit. Besides, I don't think my nose has recovered from the trauma she inflicted yet."  
  
Josh rolled his eyes. "Pete it was six years ago when she broke your nose. Get over it." "She broke my nose and gave me a black eye, man."  
  
"Well, if you'd tripped me into fountain in the middle of a crowded mall, on purpose I might add , I would've punched you, too. You knew she was a tomboy. It served you right. Do you want to go or not?"  
  
"I don't know. She's a pain in the ass."  
  
"Only if she wants to be. Besides," he said, lowering his voice, "something came up at N'Tek today. They haven't called me in, but if they do, I can't just up and leave her alone."  
  
Pete sighed. He knew how important it was to keep N'Tek's real work a secret. If Josh just up and dissapeared on Mindy, it would be hard to explain. Josh had saved his sorry butt so many times, he supposed he could put up with Mindy for a few hours. "Alright, but if she starts something you'd better protect me."  
  
"Deal. Meet us there at 6:00." He hung up and went to Mindy's room. "Hey cuz, how about going ice skating tonight?"  
  
"Sure. It's been a while since I've done that. They still have skate rentals, right?"  
  
"Of course. Oh, Pete's gonna meet us there."  
  
She looked up at him, horrified. "Why?"  
  
"Oh, come on Morgan. He's not that bad. And, as I recall, you used to have a crush on him."  
  
"That was 8 years ago and I've realized what a waste of space he is since then. Why do I have to see Pete?" she whined.  
  
"Morgan, I'm not going to argue with you. We either go skating with Pete or we stay here." She opened her mouth to respond.  
  
"On second thought," he said," We're going skating. Period."  
  
"Aww. But, Josh," she whined.  
  
"Please. For me?"  
  
"Oh, no! Not the eyes!" she cried as he gave her a pitiful look. "Oh, alright. But if he gets on my nerves, so help me... I beat him up once, I can do it again."  
  
"Fair enough. But would you at least try to be nice?"  
  
She made a face.  
  
  
  
Pete got to the rink a few minutes early. He skated around, hoping to impress the laidies. It didn't appear to be working. So, he thought up ways to annoy Mindy. He could always call her Morgan. She hated that. The only person she allowed to call her that was Josh. Ever since they were kids. He wasn't sure why. Some private joke or something.  
  
He spotted Josh on the opposite side of the rink. On his way over, he tried one one last trick to get the girls attention. He got their attention alright, but not the way he'd hoped. Other skaters laughed as he fell flat on his ass.  
  
Josh shook his head and skated over. "I should've known better than to ask you to a skating rink," he said as he helped him up. "You'll probably kill yourself trying to get a girl."  
  
"Yeah, but what a way to go."  
  
Josh just shook his head.  
  
Mindy laced up her rented skates as Josh stepped out onto the ice. He must have reinded her 5,000 times on the way here that she'd promised to at least try to be nice. Knowing Pete, he wasn't going to make it easy. She finished her skates and went to the edge of the ice. Looking around for her cousin, she spotted a few girls giggling and pointing. It wasn't an 'oh, he's so cute giggle', it was more like a 'geez, what an idiot' kind of giggle. Must be Pete, she thought sourly. Sure enough, there was Pete being helped up by Josh. She let out a small groan before skating up to them.  
  
Pete saw a pretty girl skating towards him. Maybe this night could be salvaged after all. He smiled as she skated up.  
  
"There you are," said Josh. "Took you long enough."  
  
"Shut up," she responded, playfully smacking him on the arm. "It didn't take me that long. Besides, I don't have my skating legs back yet." That was about when she noticed Pete checking her out. "What?" she asked.  
  
"Josh, aren't you going to introduce me to your lovely friend here?"  
  
Both of them looked at him as if he was am idiot. "That's Mindy, Pete."  
  
Pete just about fell over again. That was Mindy? The skinny, flat- chested little tomboy terror he'd had to put up with all those years ago? Well, good-bye skinny little tomboy, hello curvey babe.  
  
Mindy didn't like the way Pete was looking at her. He was practically drooling. Oh, great, she thought. He couldn't have found me attractive when I was 11 or at least find me repulsive now. That is so typical.  
  
Josh had fun in the next couple of hours. He did a few tricks that impressed everyone. What he found really amuzing was watching Pete trying to impress Mindy, and failing miserably, while she tried to get away from him.  
  
Mindy managed to have some fun. Watching Pete fall repeatedly was pretty amuzing. And she was with Josh, who was pretty much her favorite guy in the world. Besides, she hadn't been skating in a long time. She was enjoying it. However, it was not fun to have Pete after her. She avoided him as much as humanly possible. Lucky for her, he was a lousy skater, so she managed to avoid him quite a bit. The guy made her look like an olympic champion, he was so bad. And with her so out of practice, that was saying a lot.  
  
Pete felt lik a giant bruise. He'd lost count of how many times he'd fallen. Mindy was not the least bit impressed, nor did she appear to feel sorry for him. He skated up to Josh. Mindy had been with him, but had taken off ahead the second she saw him coming. "She doesn't like me at all, does she?"  
  
"Well, you were a prick to her when we were kids, bro."  
  
"That was a long time ago. She wasn't a hottie yet."  
  
"A hottie? This from the guy who's referred to her as the pest from hell ever since he's known her?"  
  
"Well, she's filled out since I last saw her. A lot." He eyed her as she did a quick spin up ahead.  
  
"Dude, that's my cousin. Watch what you say and think about her when you're around me," warned Josh.  
  
"Sorry. So, do you think there's even a chance that she likes me?"  
  
Josh opened his mouth, then snapped it shut as he heard a familiar voice through his bio-link. "Hermano."  
  
"Berto?" asked Josh. "What is it?"  
  
Pete immeadiatly stopped talking. He remembered why Josh had wanted him to come along. If N'Tek was calling him now, it could be serious.  
  
"We've got problems. Psycho just contacted us and informed us that he's about to take over the Del Oro skating rink. We need Max to stop him."  
  
Josh froze. The skating rink? "Oh, no."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Berto, man, turn on the vid-link."  
  
Berto obeyed and saw exactly what was distressing his friend. "Oh, man."  
  
"Precisely. Of all the things we could've done, I had to take Morgan ice skating." He skated up to his younger cousin. He had to get her out of here.  
  
Right then, a portion of the wall they were closest to collapsed. When the dust cleared, they could see Psycho standing in the gaping hole. And he was carrying some nasty looking weapons.  
  
Too late. Of all the places we could've gone, thought Josh again. 


	2. First Encounter

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except Mindy/Morgan McGrath.  
  
People screamed when the wall collapsed. When they saw Psycho, they panicked. Everyone either skated or ran for the nearest exit. Almost everyone.  
  
Mindy stared at Psycho. She was frozen in shock. She'd seen some pretty strange things in her life, but she'd never seen anything like this outside of the movies. Part of her brain screamed at her to get away from here as fast as possible, but her body didn't seem the least bit interested in listening. Well, she found herself thinking, I can't say all those chicks who just stand there when the bad guy attacks are stupid anymore. Now she understood. They were so surprised or scared, their brains couldn't register much or they just couldn't move.  
  
Why isn't she running? thought Josh. Psycho knew all about his secret identity and if he realized Mindy was with him, he might do something to her. He grabbed her arm and yanked her toward an exit. Pete was waiting for them.  
  
"Well, look who's here," smirked Psycho as he spotted Josh leading a girl away. "Always got to be a hero, don't ya?"  
  
Josh heard the comment and knew he'd been spotted. He skated faster, Mindy in tow. He shoved her into Pete's arms. "Get her out of here," he ordered. Then he took off in another direction.  
  
Pete nodded and started to pull her away. Her shock started to wear off. When her brain registered that she was being seperated from Josh, she began to struggle. She struggled even more when she realized that nut job was aiming one of his weapons at Josh. "Josh, look out!" she screamed.  
  
Josh ducked as he skated towards the locker rooms. A whole about 3 times the size of his head appeared in the wall beside him. If he could just get someplace where no one could see him, he could go into Max mode and kick Psycho's demented butt.  
  
Pete was having one hell of a time just keeping Mindy restrained, let alone could he actually get her out the door. How can someone so small be so strong? he wondered, frusterated.  
  
Mindy was in a total panic. What in the hell was Josh doing? She tried desperatly to break away from Pete, who'd obviously built up some muscle since she last saw him. "Let me go!" she shouted. He ignored her and she mentally cursed. He had her arms pinned, so she couldn't punch him. Couldn't kick him 'cause she was wearing skates and might kill him. Couldn't head-butt him or bite him because he was carefully keeping her just out of range for that. Damn his long memory! And that lunatic was shooting at her cousin!  
  
About half of the people had gotten out now. Josh didn't have time to look back, so he just hoped Mindy and Pete were safe. He dodged a few more shots. Finally, he made it through the doors. Quickly, he made sure he was alone. He hit a button on his bio-link and was instantly covered in a warm glow. Gone were the blond hair and brown eyes, replaced by brown hair and blue eyes. His outfit changed into his N'Tek uniform. He was no longer Josh McGrath. He was Max Steel.  
  
The doors were blown apart by another blast from Psycho's weapon. Fortunatly, Max was standing well away from them. If he knew Psycho, and he did, In a few seconds he would decide to terrorize the people still in the building both for fun and to make things more difficult for Max. He only had to wait for it. Max switched to stealth mode and snuck out the doors.  
  
"Nobody move!" yelled Psycho, pointing what could only be described as some sort of lazer cannon at the few remaining people. Mindy and Pete were among them.  
  
Max swore under his breath. "Bro, tell me the rest of the team is on the way," he whispered.  
  
"Hang tough, hermano. They'll be a few minutes," answered Berto. I sent Hawk just in case."  
  
Max moved behind a soda machine. The crowd was too distracted to pay any attention to his general area. He switched out of stealth mode and stepped out. "Hey, Smiley. Long time no see," he drawled.  
  
Psycho tuned and fired the cannon straight at him. Max dodged the blast and several more with lightning fast reflexes. "Not long enough, Steel," growled Psycho.  
  
Mindy watched, wide-eyed as this guy dodged the lazer cannon's blasts like it was nothing. What was he, nuts? No one could keep dodging like that forever, no matter how good they were. And that other guy, Smiley he had called him, didn't seem to be having any trouble with his trigger finger. The brunett guy was slowly making his way closer to Smiley as he continued his dodging acrobatics. He was barely winded. Mindy had never seen anything like it. Who was that guy?  
  
Max worked his way closer. If he could just disarm Psycho, he would be able to take him on hand to hand. Hopfully, everyone could get out while they fought. At the very least it would buy some time for the others to arrive and lend him a hand. When he got within range, he lashed a kick at the cannon, sending it flying. Psycho snarled and punched Max in the face, causing him to fly back a few feet. Before he could recover, Smiley launched himself onto him.  
  
Max braced himself a split second before impact. Punches were thrown. Unfortunatly for Max, Smiley had most of the leverage. Blocking a punch, he gritted his teeth. "Anytime now would be good, bro," he grated.  
  
"ETA one minute. Just hang in there Max," answered Berto.  
  
"Oh, sure. Easy for you to say." That said, Max brought up his legs under Psycho. He flew over Max and landed hard on his back. Taking the opportunity, Max jumped to his feet and faced him. Smiley was on his feet in an instant. They both took on a fighting stance.  
  
The hostages watched helplessly as the two fought. As they fought, Mindy's eyes strayed to the hole where Smiley had entered. She saw, to her horror, two men in some kind of strange body armor sneaking in. The brunett had his back to the hole and didn't see them creeping up behind him. In a couple of seconds, he would be toast.  
  
"Behind you!" Max heard someone yell and turned to see two Dread agents coming up from behind. He backflipped over them and knocked their heads together. They crashed to the floor, out cold. He looked at the crowd to see the owner of the voice. Mindy. He should have known. He gave her a brief look of gratitude before turning back to Smiley.  
  
Whoa was the only thought in Mindy's mind. Those two guys were down for the count. They were wearing helmets. Damn that guy must be strong. When he sent her a thankful look, she actually got a look at his face. Didn't she know him from somewhere?  
  
"Whoo-hooo!"  
  
"Huh?" Smiley looked up just as a pair of boots connected with his face.  
  
Max just looked at Kat as she landed next to him and took on a fighting stance. "What kept you?"  
  
"Sorry. Traffic," she quipped.  
  
Several other N'Tek agents burst into the building and began ushering out the hostages. Max breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his cousin and his friend taken outside.  
  
Mindy struggled against the agent that was pushing her outside. "No, you don't understand! My cousin is still in there!"  
  
"Miss, we're getting everyone out. You'll see your cousin outside," he said calmly.  
  
"No, I saw him go in one of the locker rooms and he didn't come back out," she insisted. "And that guy was taking cracks at him. He could be hurt."  
  
"Alright. If you go outside, we'll try to find your cousin. What's his name?"  
  
"Josh McGrath." For some reason, he gave her the oddest look when she said that. Reluctantly, she allowed herself to be taken out of the building, casting one last look over her shoulder.  
  
"Well, looks like I've overstayed my welcome," commented Psycho. "It's been real." He tossed a smoke grenade at the two agents. It went off immeadiatly and both began coughing. "Be seeing you again, Steel!"  
  
Max rushed out of the smoke cloud and toward Psycho's retreating voice. There was a commotion outside. He ran out just in time to see a small aircraft take off. Oddly, there was no sound and the craft was out of sight in seconds. Not even Hawk moved that fast. There were several agents on the ground. Max and Kat quickly checked them out. They would be fine. The hostages appeared scared and shaken up, but unhurt.  
  
"Max, you should come back to HQ. Psycho never gives up so easy. He's up to something. We should try to figure out what it is. Hawk is waiting out back."  
  
"Gottcha, bro," said Max. He headed back inside.  
  
"Wait," said Mindy, grasping Max's arm. He turned to her, surprised. "My cousin Josh is still in there. They won't let me back in to find him. Could you find him, please?" She looked at him, pleading with her eyes.  
  
"Uh, what does he look like?" he asked.  
  
"Um, he's about your height, blond, brown eyes."  
  
"I'll see what I can do."  
  
Mindy let out a sigh of relief and released his arm.  
  
"Hermano," Berto said with a warning tone. He was pretty sure what Max was about to do.  
  
Sorry, bro. I can't just dissapear on her. She'll start a riot. You've never seen her when she's determined. She won't stop until she gets some answers. She might inadvertantly compromise N'Tek or something."  
  
"You're exaggerating."  
  
"Just ask my dad. He'll understand and he'll explain about her." He changed back into Josh. "I'll talk to you later, bro." He walked back out to Mindy and Pete. As soon as she spotted him, he braced himself. It was a good thing, because she nearly knocked him over.  
  
"Oh, thank god," she said as she hugged him. "Where were you and what were you thinking?"  
  
"I, uh, um..." He looked at Pete for an excuse. Pete just shrugged.  
  
Suddenly, Mindy pulled away and slapped Josh on the arm as hard as she could, to the unutterable surprise of Josh, Pete, and Berto. "Ow!"  
  
She glared at him. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Then she threw her arms around him again.  
  
His arms went around her automatically, but his confused expression remained. He scowled as he heard both Pete and Berto burst out laughing and a few agents and civilians who had witnessed all that snickering. "Oh, shut up!" he said, mostly to his two friends. This only produced more laughter. It also caused Mindy to pull back a bit and look up at him quizzically. "Not you." She hugged him again and his friends laughed even harder. He sighed and led Mindy to his car. They both needed some rest after tonight.  
  
"Wait a second," she said, stopping and looking around. "Where did that guy go?"  
  
"He," Josh racked his brain, "went out the back. He said thanks for warning him about those two guys sneaking up on him."  
  
"Oh." She looked dissapointed. "I didn't get a chance to thank him. And ask him where he learned to move like that."  
  
Josh bit back a smile as they got in the car. It's a long story cuz, he thought.  
  
  
  
  
  
_______________________________________________________________________ So, what do you think? I should warn anyone who's reading this right now that it could be a while between chapters. It all depends on if I have time to write and if I'm having writers block or not. Plus, I'm working on some other stuff. Sorry if it's a long wait for the next chapter. 


	3. Frozen Foods And Lazers

Disclaimer: I don't own Max Steel alright! Why must you torture me by making me say it?!  
  
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When Psycho arrived back at the Dread base, he immeadiatly reported to John Dread. He entered the office and strode to the desk.  
  
"How did it go?"  
  
Psycho tossed a mini disk on the desk. Dread picked it up and put it into his computer. He watched silently as the images of the ice rink that had been captured by the tiny hidden camera Psycho wore. "Impressive," he commented after a moment, referring to the damage inflicted by the lazer cannon. "And at only one quarter of the power. Had you managed to actually hit Mr. Steel, he would no longer be a problem."  
  
Psycho scowled at his last remark. Steel wasn't exactly cooperative when it came to dying.  
  
"Where is the prototype now?"  
  
"I left it there."  
  
Dread stared at him through his dark glasses for a moment. Then he shrugged. "No matter. We have all the plans for it. Besides, I added a special feature for anyone who tries to examine it." He rewound the video a few seconds. "Who is this?" he asked, pointing to a girl Josh McGrath was pulling away. He watched as he shoved her into the arms of one of his annoying friends, said something and took off. It was as if he was trying to divert attention from her.  
  
"I don't know. But I think she was there with Steel."  
  
Dread watched and listened as the girl warned Steel twice of the danger he was in. Perhaps she could be of some use. "Find out who she is."  
  
  
  
"Morning," said Mindy, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. Last night had been more tiring than she'd thought it would be. The second the shock and the adrenaline rush had gone, she'd felt exhausted. She couldn't understand it. It wasn't like she'd been the one dodging a canon while it was being fired at her.  
  
"Morning. You sleep ok?" asked Josh.  
  
Mindy nodded and eyed his breakfast. "Still can't cook, huh?" She gestured to the toaster tart on his plate.  
  
"I can cook," he answered huffily.  
  
She gave him a wry look. "Well, let's see, shall we?" Mindy walked over to the pantry and opened it. "Hmm. Macaroni and cheese, instant mashed potatoes, instant cream of wheat, cereal, cans of chili, cans of soup and Ramen noodles. Now, exhibit B." She opened his freezer. "Frozen dinners, frozen pizza, frozen burger patties, frozen fries." She shut the door and looked at him. "All instant, frozen or non-cook stuff. Once again, still can't cook, huh?"  
  
He glared at her. "Smart assed little..." She wasn't fazed at all. "Okay, you win. So I'm not a master chef. So what? And there is some ground beef and some steaks in there."  
  
"Ooh, hamburger helper and steaks. Things only a master could make," she stated sarcastically.  
  
He glanced at his watch. "We can debate about my cooking abilities later. I have a meeting to get to." He popped the last of his breakfast in his mouth and stood.  
  
"I thought you had the week off."  
  
"I do, but the meeting is too important to miss. I'll see you later today." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing his keys and heading out the door. "Bye," he called.  
  
"Bye." She then proceeded to go through his fridge. Well, it was better than your average bachelor's fridge. There were a few things that qualified as actual food. Mindy shook her head and closed the fridge. She would have to talk to Josh about going to the grocery store. There were also take-out adds and numbers of resteraunts that delivered stacked next to the phone. She just shook her head. Yup, definatly had to talk to him about going to the grocery store.  
  
  
  
Josh went into Max mode on the way down in the elevator. Smith had excused Josh from coming back to N'Tek last night. He knew all too well how Mindy could get. However, he'd told him to come by in the morning to discuss the incident last night.  
  
"Hi, guys," he greeted as he walked into the conference room.  
  
"Hello, Max," said his supervising agent, Rachel Leeds. The others aknowledged him with waves or nods. "It's nice of you to show up," she commented.  
  
"Hey, I already explained why I couldn't be here last night."  
  
"Worrying your cousin is the least of our problems, Max."  
  
"In, Max's defense," Berto cut in before an argument could happen, " the girl was going crazy, and he'd only been Max for a few minutes. And she was plenty mad at him for worrying her in the first place." He tried to keep a straight face.  
  
"Forget that stuff. Didn't you see her eyes when she asked me to go find her cousin?"  
  
Berto nodded. "You've got a point there, hermano."  
  
"Alright, people, we need to get down to business," said Smith. They were all attention. "We need to determine why, exactly, Psycho chose to attack the skating rink and why he gave up so easily. And, more importantly, why he called us first."  
  
"He wanted us to show. Specifically, he wanted Max to show for some reason," said Berto. "It's the only explaination."  
  
"Why would he want me there, exactly?"  
  
Berto held up the lazer cannon they had recovered. "I've never seen a weapon quite like this before. I haven't had a chance to thoroughly examine it yet. And when Psycho escaped, I tried to trace his craft. I couldn't. He wasn't flying low enough to avoid radar. Whatever it was he was flying must have a very enhanced stealth system. I've never seen anything like it either."  
  
"A test run?" asked Max.  
  
"It's quite possible. It would explain why he gave up so easily and why he gave us warning."  
  
"Which brings us to another question," said Smith. "If this was just the test, what's the real plan?"  
  
  
  
A couple of hours later, Berto was all set to take apart the lazer cannon. He was eager to see how it worked. Wearing a protective suit, just in case, he laid it on a table. Next to it was an array of tools. He picked up a power drill and set to work. Unbeknownst to him, the moment that the first screw came loose, a small machine inside the cannon began a countdown to self destruct.  
  
Max walked down the halls of N'Tek. He'd forgotten to ask Berto something. The whir of a power drill could be heard from one of the rooms. Max entered, not at all surprised to see Berto hard at work taking the cannon apart. A tiny sound caught his ear as Berto removed the last screw. Max amplified his hearing. Sure enough, he heard a tiny beeping sound. It sounded like a timer. His eyes zeroed in on the cannon. He stepped closer. That was where the sound was coming from. Why would there be a timer in it? Was it booby-trapped?  
  
Berto was about to remove the outer casing of the cannon when Max ran forward, picked him up and ran for the door. He was too surprised to react. They only got about 2 yards from the door when an explosion went off. Max steadied himself against the wall, setting his friend down as he did. Almost instantly, other agents came running. The door Max had slammed shut behind him was now laying across the floor. A few flames could be seen inside the room.  
  
"Thanks hermano," was all Berto could say. His voice was shakey.  
  
After the flames had been extinguished and the smoke cleared, Max and Berto went back in. The explosion hadn't been big enough to do any real damage to N'Tek, but it had been powerful enough that it surely would have killed Berto, and anyone else in the room, if Max hadn't gotten him out. The cannon was totally destroyed, as were most of the other things in the room.  
  
"I'm lucky you heard it," stated Berto. When Max didn't answer, he continued. "Well, there goes any chance of finding out how the weapon worked."  
  
"What happened?" demanded Smith as he arrived from the main offices.  
  
"The weapon was rigged," explained Berto. "Taking it apart must have triggered a self destruct mechanism."  
  
"At least nothing irreplacable was in the room," Smith said, resting his hand on Berto's shoulder.  
  
"I would've been if Max hadn't gotten me out."  
  
"Somone must really not want us to know how that thing works," said Max.  
  
"I did manage to test it's power capabilities. One shot would kill even Max. If the power were increased, there's no limit to the damage a weapon like that could do. And it was pretty big to be something every Dread agent could carry around. I think what we saw was just the prototype."  
  
The three just looked at each other. If that was true, they were in deep trouble.  
  
  
  
John Dread read through the file his agents had managed to gather.  
  
Name:Mindy McGrath  
  
Age:18  
  
Hair:Brown  
  
Eyes:Hazel Brown  
  
Height: 5'3"  
  
Birthplace:Del Oro Bay  
  
Father:Austin McGrath (Whereabouts unknown, brother of Jim McGrath)  
  
Mother:Jenifer McGrath  
  
Siblings:None  
  
Connection to Josh McGrath:Cousin  
  
A small smile graced his lips. "So, Mr. Steel. Your only living blood relation is in town."  
  
  
  
Mindy was bored out of her mind. The house was spotless so she couldn't even clean to pass the time. Josh was the only guy she knew who kept his house clean. She knew she was welcome to borrow his sports equipment and had gone surfing for a while. But, it just wasn't as fun without Josh, wierd as that seemed. She'd gone through the newspaper, particularly the classifieds, more than once.  
  
"How long does a meeting last, anyway?" she grumbled. It was almost 4:00 pm. Josh had left at like 7:30. She sighed and headed out for a walk. For the next half hour, she strolled along the beach and streets of Del Oro, unaware that someone was watching her every move, just waiting for the right opportunity. 


	4. A Weakness Found

WARNING!: I forgot to warn you earlier. I am *NOT* a Max/Rachel shipper. I never have been and I never will be. I'm a Josh/Laura shipper. So if you don't like the pairing, don't read the stories. And those of you who are fiercly loyal M/R shippers, please don't leave nasty notes in my review box. Otherwise, I might be tempted to come up with a horrible cliffhanger and just stop writing. Get it? Got it? Good.  
  
Stuff between * * is italic. I can't get the italics to work right. _______________________________________________________________________  
  
It was almost five when Josh got home. He still couldn't believe how lucky they had been not to lose Berto today. Not only was his expertise in nanotechnology uncommon, he was also a great friend. Josh wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for Berto.  
  
"Morgan, I'm home," he called. "Sorry it took so long. We had some unexpected..." he trailed off. The house was utterly silent. It felt empty. "Morgan?" He walked to her room. She wasn't there. A sliver of fear worked it's way into him. He tried the other rooms. It only confirmed what he'd already felt; Mindy was gone.  
  
He ran around the house, double checking all the rooms. Nothing. He checked the backyard. No Mindy. Okay, calm down, he thought to himself. Maybe she went for a walk or something. She never did like to just stay in one place. The chances that she was taken by a Dread agent are pretty slim.  
  
  
  
Mindy was on her way back to the house. She walked along the oddly desserted beach. This part of the beach had always been quiet, she remembered. It didn't make any sense to her because it was a great surfing spot. Josh must love it.  
  
The man following Mindy was coming up behind her. She didn't even notice, she was so busy looking out at the waves. Now seemed to be as good a time as any. There was no one else around. His feet moving silently over the sand, he approached her. When he was close enough, he reached one of his arms toward her.  
  
Mindy whirled around, startled as a hand touched her shoulder. As she turned, she let out a scream, in turn causing the man who'd been following her to scream.  
  
In the house, Josh heard his cousin scream. He was off like a shot out the door.  
  
Mindy's breath came out as short gasps. Her hand was on her chest, trying to slow down her rapid heart rate. She stared at her the man before her for a second. "Jesus, Pete. You about gave me a heart attack."  
  
"*I* almost gave *you* a heart attack?" asked Pete. His breathing and heart rate were just as bad as hers.  
  
"Don't you have something better to do than scare the living shi-"  
  
"Morgan?!" yelled Josh. They both turned to see him running from the house.  
  
"I'm over here Josh."  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked as he ran up.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. No thanks to him." She jerked a thumb in Pete's direction.  
  
"Alright, what did you do to her?" asked Josh. He looked expectantly at Pete.  
  
"Me? I didn't do anything."  
  
"Bull-fucking-shit you didn't do anything." Mindy glared at him. "You don't go sneaking up on people and then try to act like it's not your fault they freaked."  
  
"I wasn't trying to sneak up on you," he insisted. "I just wanted to say hi and you had your back turned."  
  
Mindy opened her mouth again. "Alright," said Josh before she could speak. "Everybody just calm down. You," he turned to Pete," should know better than to sneak up on people. Especially her. She could have broken your nose again. And you," he turned to Mindy, "shouldn't take it so personal. He probably didn't realize he would scare you like that."  
  
The two in question folded thier arms across their chests and looked away.  
  
"And where exactly did you learn that phrase?"  
  
She gave him a wry look. "Josh, I'm almost 19. You didn't seriously expect me to use 'gosh' and 'darn' forever, did you?"  
  
Josh rolled his eyes. She had him there. So he changed the subject. "I thought we could order pizza for dinner. Sound good?"  
  
"It's fine with me as long as there's no anchovies."  
  
"Did you wanna come over for dinner?" he asked Pete.  
  
"Sure. Thanks."  
  
Josh ignored the whiney look Mindy gave him as they started back for the house.  
  
Both boys were still stunned after dinner. Mindy had to be the only girl they knew who could eat half of a large double cheese pizza with pepperoni, sausage, mushroom and extra sauce in one sitting. Granted, they did that kind of stuff all the time, but Mindy had always been a fairly light eater when they were kids. And the kicker was she washed it down with two cans of rootbeer. And here Josh had gone through the trouble of buying a case of diet sodas for her.  
  
"Were you planning on a belching contest later?" inquired Josh as she downed the last of her second can.  
  
"No, but if you think you're up to it, I'm game." She put her feet up on the coffee table and crossed her ankles.  
  
"Think you still got it, huh?" Josh had a mischievious look in his eye.  
  
"I *know* I still got it. How about you?"  
  
For his answer, Josh let out a very loud belch. Pete snickered.  
  
Mindy smiled. "Nice. You still have *some* skill."  
  
"Think you can do better?" he asked. His eyes challenged her.  
  
In response, she let out a belch of her own. It was slightly louder and longer than Josh's. Both boys got disgusted looks on their faces. Mindy had to laugh at their expressions. "Looks like I win, cuz. Unless one of you can do better."  
  
"No fair. You had 2 cans of soda," mumbled Josh.  
  
"You just can't stand losing to a girl." She shook her head. "Typical male."  
  
"Hey," said Josh with a warning tone. Then he got a strange look in his eye. It was a look Mindy knew well.  
  
"Josh, no."  
  
He didn't answer. Instead, he casually stood and walked closer to the couch, where she was sitting. Before she could move, he lunged forward and tackled her. She let out a shriek as he began to tickle her.  
  
Pete just shook his head as he watched their display of affection. Some things, he thought, will never change.  
  
  
  
Later that night, John Dread watched the video one of his agents had filmed from outside the window of Josh McGrath's house. He saw Josh tickle his cousin until she cried uncle. It was obvious that they were very close. Not quite disgusting close, but close. He couldn't be certain that the girl knew about her cousin's little secret. Not that that really mattered. What mattered was he'd just found a big weakness of Max Steel.  
  
  
  
Josh couldn't sleep. Pete had gone home some time ago and Mindy was in her room. He glanced at his digital alarm clock. 11:19pm. Sighing, he sat up and switched on the light. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. For a minute or two, he just sat there. Then, he opened the drawer on his nightstand and pulled out a framed picture. From behind the glass, a pretty girl with short black hair smiled at him. He stood next to her, his arm draped across her shoulders. She was snuggled up to his shoulder. Laura. God, he missed her.  
  
"Hey," said a voice from the doorway. He looked up to find Mindy standing there in an oversized shirt and some shorts. "Can't sleep either, huh?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
She came over and sat down next to him. She peered at the photo before looking up at him. There was a sympathetic look in her eyes. "I was sorry to hear about you and Laura."  
  
"Yeah, so was I."  
  
She smiled a little. "It's wierd. My whole life, I could never picture you with anyone but her."  
  
"I know. Even when we were little, you kept telling us we were going to get married someday. We thought you were nuts. We weren't even old enough to think about relationships."  
  
"I still can't believe you cheated on her, Josh. I expected better from you."  
  
He looked at her, confused. "Who told you why we broke up?"  
  
Now she looked confused. "You don't know?" When he shook his head, she explained. "Laura's been writing to me. I usually get a letter once every couple of months."  
  
Josh was surprised. Laura had been keeping more contact with his cousin than he'd been? "How much did she tell you?"  
  
"Everything she knew." Mindy brushed her hair behind her ears with her fingers. "That you kissed another woman and kept swearing there was nothing between you and that other girl. Rachel, wasn't it?"  
  
He nodded. "I know I screwed up." He sighed heavily. His fingertips brushed over the Laura's image. "It's too late now," he said sadly.  
  
She shook her head. "No it's not."  
  
He gave her a look. "Going on a research trip for a year seems pretty final to me."  
  
"Pete rammed that one into your head didn't he?" He looked away. Mindy laid a hand on his bare shoulder. "A year's not forever Josh. And isn't she coming home soon?"  
  
"Morgan, 9 more months is not soon."  
  
She looked at him, surprised. "Josh, don't you watch the news? The company that owns the ship she was on is in a lot of legal trouble. Something about illegal dumping of toxic waste. The trip was cancelled. All the students are being sent home."  
  
He looked at her. His eyes seemed to beg her not to be lying.  
  
"It was all over the news today. The company has a lot to answer for and a whole lot of fines to pay. They're going belly up."  
  
"So Laura's coming home?"  
  
"Probably within the next week. I'm going to bed now." She stood and kissed him on the cheek. "'Night." There was a small smile on her face as she left the room. As soon as she shut the door, she heard Josh exclaim excitedly. "Yes!" Mindy shook her head and went to try to sleep.  
  
Josh turned out the light and laid back down. He drew the sheets up to his waist, leaving his shirtless torso exposed. He locked his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. It was too bad about Laura's trip being cancelled like that, but he was still happy about it.  
  
He still couldn't sleep. He knew his cousin had thought telling him about this would cheer him up. And it had. Only now he was to excited to sleep.  
  
Finally, at about 1:00 in the morning, Josh managed to drift off to sleep. A smile was still on his face. One thought still stood out even as he began to dream; Laura's coming home.  
  
Mindy managed to get to sleep eventually as well. The reason she couldn't sleep had appeared last night at the skating rink. She couldn't stop thinking about that guy who had rescued them. A frown still creased her brow as she began to drift off into a restless slumber. She just couldn't shake the feeling that, not only had she seen him before, but that she knew him as well. Her last concious thought that night was, who *was* that guy?  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Okay, just for the record, Mindy isn't thinking about Max in a romantic way. It's just driving her crazy not knowing where she knows him from. Come on, I *know* you know what I mean. And Laura's coming into the story. I'm not sure when exactly, but she is. Hope you enjoyed. 


	5. The Name's Max Steel

Disclaimer: See chapters 1-3  
  
Thank you to everyone who's been reading. Especially those of you who left me those wonderful reviews. And a special thanks to Calty for suggesting a title for chapter 3 since I couldn't come up with one. Thanks for helping me out. _______________________________________________________________________  
  
The next three days were fairly uneventful. Josh was growing anxious to see Laura. She had called Pete and told him when she was coming home. Just one more day. He, Pete and Mindy were going to meet her at the airport. Laura didn't know that, but then it wouldn't be a surprise if she did.  
  
Josh's week off had been cancelled to an extent. He only had to come in for a couple of hours everyday for briefings. Nothing heavy. They still had no idea what Psycho and Dread were planning, making everyone a feel a little on edge. Josh was glad he didn't have to stick around N'Tek too much right now. And frankly, he felt a little guilty because he had promised to spend the whole week with Mindy and now he couldn't.  
  
Mindy, for her part, didn't seem too upset with him. She had accepted his excuse of there was some mix-up at work and some unexpected events, so he had to work a few hours a day. In fact, she had rented a car and spent quite a bit of time driving around town. Josh wasn't sure why. When he had asked, she'd said she would tell him later.  
  
Now that Psycho had seen her, Josh was worried about Mindy all the time. He couldn't be sure Smiley had made a connection, but it was a possibility. He didn't like her driving around Del Oro all alone. His first thought was to send Pete to keep an eye on her, but quickly realized she would slap him silly if she found out he'd put him up to it. And he was afraid to think about what she would do to Pete if he was following her everywhere. So he'd settled for buying a set of 2-way radios and having her carry one at all times. She had agreed to this, but had given him strange looks about it. Especially when she noticed he'd gotten a set with the highest range availabe. She just didn't get why he was acting so oddly. He'd always been protective of her, but lately it was getting a little wierd.  
  
Josh was beginning to think he was just being paranoid. If anyone was going to come after Mindy, wouldn't they have done it by now? Besides, she didn't know anything about N'Tek's real work, so she was useless in the information department. Besides, everyone else kept telling him he was being paranoid.  
  
Right now, he was in Max mode. Some adjustments had been made to Shadow and he was taking it for a test spin. He actually felt completely relaxed for the first time in days as the wind whipped through his hair.  
  
"How's it going, hermano?" asked Berto.  
  
"It's running great."  
  
"Did you test the new feature yet?"  
  
"Was just about to bro." Max flipped a switch. He looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Green," he commanded. In seconds, the car had gone from it's normal blue to a shade of green. He smiled. "Purple." The car obeyed. "Uh, black with hot pink stripes." He grinned as the car changed again. "It's working."  
  
"Great. Now you're not limited to just red and blue. Shadow will be harder to recognize."  
  
"Blue," Max commanded. "Uh, Morgan hasn't tried to call, has she?"  
  
Berto sighed. "If she had, I wouldv'e patched her through."  
  
"You're keeping the radio on hand right?"  
  
"Max," said Berto in a warning tone, "this is getting irritating. If she tries to call, I'll put the feed through your bio-link. You need to stop worrying. You're driving eveyone up a wall hermano."  
  
"Sorry, I just can't help it. What if Dread and Smiley decide to use her to get to me?"  
  
"If they find time with you watching her every second."  
  
"Well, it's kind of hard to watch her when she's driving around all the time."  
  
"Hermano, she's an active teenage girl. It's not like you can lock her in her room just so you can feel like she's safe. She's too much like you for that."  
  
  
  
Mindy walked toward her rental car. Another dead end. She sighed. At this rate, she would *never* find a place off campus. And time to find a place was running out. Plus, she still hadn't told Josh. She should have, but she kept putting it off. The place she had just seen was not only overpriced, it was a dump. Wasn't trying to rent out a place like that illegal or something?  
  
In a van that was slowly approaching, three men were watching Mindy. They had been watching her for the past three days. They had had several opportunities to kidnapp her, but had been ordered only to observe. Now, they'd been given the go ahead, but there were always people around. Right now, though, there was no one around. A perfect opportunity. Silently, they stopped the van a few yards away. All three climbed out, none of them were wearing their helmets. They would have drawn too much attention and were not the most comfortable things in the world. Besides, she was just a girl, and a small one at that. How much trouble could she be?  
  
Mindy dug her two-way radio out of her purse with the intent on checking if Josh was home yet. Just as she pulled it out, she got a cold shiver up her spine. That shiver always meant she was being watched. Lately, she'd been feeling that shiver a lot, but when she looked, she didn't see anyone paying attention to her. She could swear she'd seen a black van a couple of times, but had just chalked it up to watching *way* too many spy movies.  
  
When she turned around, she decided she shouldn't doubt her instincts so much. There was that same black van. And three guys approaching her. Her eyes widened as she realized they were wearing outfits identical to what those two had been wearing at the ice rink, except with no helmets. Her eyes darted around. Her heart sank as she noticed that no one else was around. She was on her own. She swallowed hard.  
  
They were just a couple of feet away now. Quickly, she switched on the radio in her hand. "What do you want?" she demanded, trying not to let her voice shake.  
  
  
  
Berto started as he heard a voice loud and clear coming through the two- way.  
  
  
  
One of the men smiled evily. "You're coming with us," he said simply.  
  
"In your dreams," Mindy spat out.  
  
  
  
Berto filtered the two-way's signal into Max's bio-link. "Max, next time I tell you you're being paranoid, you can slap me."  
  
Max was about to ask what he was talking about when he heard a man's voice. "Someone's taken an interest in you, Miss McGrath. Now be a good little girl and get in the van and we won't have to hurt you." Max's heart dropped into his stomach. "Berto can you trace her location from the radio signal?"  
  
"I'm already working on it." A second later, he located her and gave the location to Max. Both just prayed he got there in time.  
  
  
  
"Now be a good little girl and get in the van and we won't have to hurt you."  
  
"Fuck off," she responded, glaring at him.  
  
"The hard way it is," he said.  
  
One of them stepped forward and grabbed her left arm.  
  
"Get off me!" she yelled. She proceded to punch the guy in the face as hard as she could. He staggered back, holding his nose as blood poured out of it. Another came at her and she delivered a powerful kick to his groin. He fell to the ground, clutching himself, too surprised and in too much pain to let out a sound.  
  
The third guy rushed forward and grabbed her wrist. She turned around and stomped on his foot. He let out a yelp of pain, but didn't let go. Instead, he twisted her wrist painfully and squeezed harder. She cried out in pain.  
  
  
  
A red haze filled Max's vision as he heard Mindy's cry of pain. He pushed the gas petal harder. Mindy was capable of holding her own for a few minutes, he knew. He'd taught her basic self-defense himself. Against any one person, that is. But against what sounded like more than one Dread soldier, she didn't stand much of a chance.  
  
"I sent a clean-up van for whoever's after Mindy. They should get there soon."  
  
Max didn't respond. He just drove faster, taking the next turn on two wheels.  
  
  
  
Mindy screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that *someone* would hear her. The guy she'd punched had come over to aid his buddy. Mindy kicked at both of their shins, producing yells of pain. When the one with a probably broken nose tried to grab her other arm, she reached up and scratched his face and was satisfied at the sight of his pained look and a cut beginning to bleed.  
  
The one who had her by the wrist swung her over his shoulder and tried to carry her to the van. Now desperate, Mindy drove her knee into his chest as hard as her akward position would allow. Unfotunatly, she had forgotten that he was wearing protective armor. So she did the only thing she could think of. She yanked his hair. He yelled in pain, but didn't drop her. Reaching for the other side of his head, she dug her nails into his ear. He did drop her then. Mindy was vaugly aware of a car screeching to a halt.  
  
The Dread soldier covered his ear with his hands. When he drew it away, there was blood on his fingers. He turned his furious gaze on Mindy. "You little bitch!" He raised a hand to hit her.  
  
To Mindy's astonishment and confusion, the guy was suddenly tackled by what appeared to be a blue, silver and brown blur. The blur delivered a fuw punches and kicks before turning to the other two. Her eyes widened. It was the same guy from the ice rink.  
  
Max knocked out the Dread soldier who'd been about to strike his cousin in record time. He turned to face the other two. He was furious and it showed. The other two backed up a step before trying to take him down.  
  
Mindy watched as they fought. Her brain managed to register that her saviour was an expert fighter. And he was *fast*. He landed blow after blow on her attackers. They could barely touch him.  
  
It only lasted a couple of minutes. All three soldiers lay on the ground, unconcious. Max glared angrily at them. *Nobody* touched his baby cousin.  
  
He looked over at Mindy, who was still sitting on the ground with a bewildered expression on her face. He was at her side in an instant. "Are you alright?" he asked, gently pulling her to her feet.  
  
She just stared at the three men on the ground. She didn't even notice the second black van that pulled up. Several people got out and collected the three unconcious men. She watched them as they checked to make sure they were alive.  
  
Max repeated his question when she didn't answer him. "Yeah," she said, so quietly he never would have heard it if he didn't have advanced hearing. He breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
The Dread agents were loaded into the van and driven off. Max was still seething. All those times his friends had been in danger were horrible, but he couldn't remember ever being quite this angry. They'd known exactly where Mindy was. That meant they had been following her. Who knew how long they had been watching her?  
  
He looked over at his cousin. She seemed fine except for a bruise on her left wrist and being shaken up. The poor girl had no idea why anyone would come after her like this. She'd done nothing as far as she knew.  
  
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.  
  
She turned her confused eyes to his face. After a moment, she nodded.  
  
"Good." He started to walk to his car.  
  
"Wait!" she called. She ran up to him as he turned back to her. For a moment, she only stared at him. "Who are you?"  
  
He looked at her a bit oddly for a split second. Regaining his composure, he answered her. "The name's Max Steel." He bowed a bit, just for the dramatic effect. "At your service."  
  
Max Steel. She knew that name from somewhere. But where? "Mindy McGrath," she said, extending her hand. He shook it. "This is the third time you've helped me in under a week."  
  
"Third?"  
  
"Yeah. You showed up at the ice rink when that whacko showed up. You went back in to find my cousin after he took off. And you just saved me from three dementoids with no fashion sense. That makes three."  
  
Max smiled.  
  
"Ever since I got here, you seem to show up whenever there's trouble," she continued. "What are you, some kind of James Bond wanna be? I-I mean, uh." She closed her eyes. "That didn't come out right." When she opened her eyes, she saw, to her relief, that he didn't seem offended. Actually, his smile had broadened.  
  
He had a smile that could make a girl melt. Yet, for some strange reason, she wasn't the least bit attracted to this guy. Logically, she knew she should be, but she wasn't. In fact, she was somewhat repulsed by the idea. She wondered why. "It's just that what just happened is like something right out of a spy movie or a cartoon, and-" She decided to quit while she was ahead. "Anyway, just... thank you. For everything."  
  
"It's no problem. Glad to help."  
  
He seemed *so* familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he was. "I'm sorry. Do I... know you?"  
  
"Um, I don't think so. I've got to run. I'll be seeing you around." He ran over to his blue convertable and hopped over the door. He drove off a minute later.  
  
Mindy watched him go. The way he'd jumped into the car. Josh did that all the time. Max was also had a pretty laid back attitude like Josh. Maybe that's why she wasn't attracted to him. He reminded her of her cousin a bit. She shrugged and headed back to her rental car. At least she'd gotten to thank him this time. And now she knew his name. All she had to do was figure out where she'd heard it. And get over the burning humiliation of asking him if he was a James Bond wanna be. Sometimes, she thought sourly, I would do well to keep my big mouth shut.  
  
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It's not the best chapter I've ever written, but I think it's pretty good. Let me know what you think. 


	6. Surprise!

Disclaimers: Do we really have to go through this again?  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
When Josh got home, he immeadiatly went into the house to look for Mindy. It didn't take long to find her. She was sitting at the table. She was wearing a robe and her wet hair was hanging down her back. She was the picture of calmness, sitting there reading a magazine. However, she had an ice pack resting on her right hand. She must have hurt herself when she was fighting those guys off, he realized.  
  
She looked up as he entered. "Hi."  
  
"Hey. How was your day?" Of course, he already knew what had gone on, but he wanted to see how she explained it to him.  
  
"How was my day?" She looked him staight in the eye. "Well, let's see. I was almost kidnapped by three goons in clown suits, who incidently happened to know who I am, only to be rescued by a guy who I'm beginning to think is some kind of guardian angel. Kind of like a Del Oro version of Batman. How was your day?" she asked smiling sweetly at him.  
  
"Say that again." He acted totally bewildered by her story.  
  
"Let me ask you something. What's the point of making me carry around this radio thing if you don't even keep yours on?"  
  
"Huh?" He wasn't acting this time. He was really confused.  
  
"I was half expecting *you* to come to my rescue. I had the thing on the whole time I was being attacked. You didn't even notice. If you'd had the damned thing on, you would've heard everything." Seeing the look on his face, she instantly felt bad for her choice of words and her tone. It had sounded like she was upset with him. "Josh, I'm sorry. That came out wrong. It's not like you could have done anything if you'd heard, but if I have to keep mine on and on me, I think you should do the same."  
  
"I accidentally switched it off. I'm sorry. Are you alright?" He was all concern now.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him. "I've just got a bruise. And my knuckles are a little sore."  
  
A smile played on his lips. "Then I'm gonna asume you put up a pretty good fight."  
  
"I guess. But who knows what would've happened if Max hadn't shown up. He probably saved my life."  
  
Josh tried not to look proud. Not just what she said about Max, but at the fight she'd given those guys. He'd had to report back to N'Tek and checked on their condition. She hadn't just broken that guy's nose, she'd shattered it! The guy was going to need plastic surgery if he didn't want a crooked nose the rest of his life. And he seriously doubted the other guy would be reproducing anytime soon, even if he wasn't going to prison. The third guy, the one he'd stopped from hitting Mindy, was the only one she hadn't done a lot of damage to. But she *had* managed to give him a nasty cut on his ear. And the other two were pretty pissed off at him. Some of the things they'd been heard mumbling were, "'We won't need the helmets,' he said. 'She's just a little girl,' he said," and, "'How much trouble can she be? That's the last time I listen to your dumb ass!".  
  
"You should've seen it Josh. He took out all three guys by himself. Then this black van shows up, a bunch of people get out and haul these guys away. It was like something out of the movies. And him, he's like a fighting machine or something."  
  
"I noticed that, too."  
  
"When?" she asked, more than a little confused.  
  
"At the ice rink."  
  
She gave him a strange look. "How did you know it was the same guy from the ice rink?"  
  
He groaned inwardly. That is the *last* time I play along to give myself an ego boost, he vowed. Now he was going to have to try and explain how he knew. He couldn't think of anything that would sound right to her.  
  
"I never said it was the same guy. How did you know?" she pressed.  
  
"Uh, well..."  
  
The phone rang. Saved by the bell, he thought. He picked up. "Hello?"  
  
"I was watching. Thought you could use a hand, hermano."  
  
Josh walked up to his room. "Bro, you are a lifesaver. Maybe you can come up with an excuse for why I knew that. And tell me how I could be dumb enough to make a mistake like that."  
  
"Is there any chance she'll let the subject drop?"  
  
"About as much of a chance as snow along the equator. This is Morgan we're talking about. She's not going to forget that."  
  
"Well, then you're very screwed hermano. I have no idea how to explain it." They were both silent for a minute of so. "Wait a second, would she let it drop if she was pre-occupied or something?"  
  
"For a while, yeah, but then she'd ask again."  
  
"Well, then what if her new hero was to ask her to let it drop?"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
Berto began to explain what he had in mind.  
  
  
  
The sun had just gone down. Mindy waited for her cousin to come back downstairs. He still hadn't answered her question. A few minutes after he went up, she heard the shower going. Fine, she could wait. She went into her room and changed into a pair of old, worn-out jeans and a loose t- shirt. There was a knock at the door as she finished combing out her hair. Josh was still in the shower, so she went to answer it. She hadn't known who to expect, but it certainly wasn't who she found behind the door.  
  
Max took in her shocked expression. He wasn't sure this would work, but it wasn't like he had a bunch of options. "Hello, Mindy," he said. She didn't answer, just gaped. "Can I come in?" He walked in as Mindy stood aside for him.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked. She was completely confused.  
  
"I wanted to see if you were okay after what happened."  
  
"How-how did you know where I'm staying?"  
  
"Uh, I've been here before. I know your cousin." He said the first thing that came to his mind. "It's been a while since I've been here, though. But he told me all about you and I figured you'd be staying with him."  
  
"Josh never mentioned knowing you."  
  
Damn her memory! She had to notice every little thing wrong with his story. "Well, it was back in high school," he explained. "And the last time I saw him was at the Del Oro Extreme awhile back."  
  
That was it! That was where she knew him from! He'd competed in the Del Oro Extreme Competition the same year Josh had. Josh had dropped out for some reason he didn't want to talk about. But Max had been one of the most incredible athletes she had ever seen. Had Josh stayed in, Max would've given him a run for his money, but no one was better than her cousin as far as she was concerned.  
  
As for him knowing Josh without her knowledge, it was possible. After all, they'd had very little contact during the last few years. If Josh and Max didn't hang out together much anymore, he would probably see no reason to bring it up. She hadn't really told Josh much about people who used to be her friends that she didn't associate with anymore. Why would he tell her?  
  
She nodded, indicating she accepted his explaination. Max relaxed a bit. So far, so good.  
  
Mindy curled up on the couch while Max took a chair. "Did you contact the police about what happened earlier?" he inquired.  
  
"What good would that do? I don't have any evidence. The cops would think I was either insane or on something."  
  
He nodded. "Well, in case you were wondering, the three who attacked you are in a high security prison now."  
  
"Who were they?"  
  
This was what he wasn't looking forward to. He knew he would have to explain a few things, but he wasn't sure how much to tell her.  
  
"You're going to have to tell her a few basics, hermano," advised Berto. He was monitering the conversation just in case Max needed some help. "But, don't go into details."  
  
Max took a deep breath. "They are part of a..." There was no other way to say it. He and Berto both knew it. "A terrorist organization."  
  
Mindy snapped her eyes to his face. A WHAT?! A look at his eyes told her that he wasn't lying. What in god's name would a terrorist organization want with her?  
  
After giving her a moment to let what he'd just told her sink in, he continued. "I'm part of a top secret organization that protects people from terrorists. Now, I can't tell you anything about that, but you have to believe me when I say that I'm going to do everything I can to make sure they don't get their hands on you."  
  
Mindy was absolutley speechless. Now she really did feel like she was trapped in a spy movie. A terrorist organization was after her. There was some kind of secret agent telling her he was going to protect her. It was like a bad dream.  
  
There was a minute or two of silence. Max waited patiently for a reaction. And for the inevitable question to be asked. He wished she didn't have to be involved in any of this, but Dread had made her a part of this. Whether she knew it or not, and whether he liked it or not, she was in up to her eyeballs. Just because she was related to him. It wasn't fair.  
  
"Max," she said quietly, looking up at him. "Why me? Why do they want me?"  
  
There was that inevitable, impossible for him to honestly answer question. "I really can't say."  
  
"You can't or you won't?"  
  
"I'm not sure exactly what they want you for." That, at least, was the truth. He didn't know for sure what their plan was. "But it can't be anything good. Until we figure out what their plan is, you shouldn't go anywhere alone. If you have to go into town, make sure people know where you're going and how long you should be gone. And, this is important, you can't tell anyone what's going on. It could compromise the agency I work for."  
  
"But, I can't not tell Josh," she protested. "We tell each other basically everything. I can't keep something like this from him. Besides, if I'm in danger, and I'm staying with him, isn't he in danger too?"  
  
Max felt a stab of guilt at her words. She'd just been told a terrorist group was after her and she was worried about her cousin being in danger. But what really ate at him was her informing him that she and Josh told each other everything. That had been true once. Once again, Max Steel was complicating Josh McGrath's life.  
  
"Well, I guess it would be okay to tell him. I know Josh can keep a secret, and you do have a point. But just him, no one else."  
  
"Alright. You have my word. I won't tell anyone but Josh." She glanced at the stairs, an impatient look on her face. "What is keeping him anyway?" She stood and walked to the foot of the stairs. "Yo, Josh," she called, "whatever it is you're doing in that shower, will you hurry it up and get down here? We need to talk."  
  
Max paled. He should have realized she'd want Josh to be a part of this conversation. He had to get out of here. Abruptly, he stood. "I have to go now."  
  
"Now? But, didn't you want to see Josh? Maybe you can explain what's going on better than I could."  
  
"Hermano, you still need an excuse for why Josh knew that Max was the guy who helped her out today," Berto reminded him.  
  
"By the way," Max said, "I told Josh that you could be in some kind of danger. I asked him to keep a close watch on you. And I asked him not to tell you that he knew until I got a chance to talk to you. All he knows is that I helped you today. He doesn't know all the details I told you. You can fill him in on all that."  
  
"Well, that explains why he wasn't too surprised when I told him I was almost kidnapped. It also explains how he knew the guy from the ice rink was the same guy who saved me today. I was wondering about that. Are you sure you don't want to stay and talk to him?"  
  
"I would, but I have to report back to headquarters."  
  
There was something off about his story. Mindy could feel it. At the same time, every instinct in her body told her that she should trust Max Steel. So she didn't question him. She *never* trusted anyone so easily. It didn't make much sense to trust someone you knew next to nothing about so much, no matter what they had done for you. But she did.  
  
"You'll probably be seeing me again," he assured her. Then he left.  
  
Mindy locked the ddor behind him. After that, she collapsed onto the sofa. This couldn't be happening. This kind of thing just didn't happen in the real world. She closed her eyes and leaned back, just praying that she would wake up and find out that today was just a dream.  
  
  
  
Max srambled in through the bathroom window. As soon as he had his feet on the floor, he began to undress. He had to look like he'd been in the shower. Berto had switched off the link when Max was on his way up to the bathroom, neither boy being to keen on the idea of him seeing Josh in the shower. Max hit a button on his bio-link before stepping under the hot spray. In an instant, he was Josh again. He washed as fast as he could and turned the shower off. He quickly dried himself and pulled on the clothes he'd brought in the bathroom before he'd gone out the window and to the front door, knowing he wouldn't have too much time between appearances as both Max and Josh before Mindy got suspicious about what was taking him so long. As soon as he was done, he went downstairs.  
  
Mindy was still sitting on the couch. She had already assured herself that this was no dream by pinching herself. She had begun to rethink her current plans for college. She could no longer put off telling Josh what she'd been avoiding telling him at least until she found a place of her own. She turned as she heard footsteps on the stairs. "Hi."  
  
"Hi," he replied. "I thought I heard someone at the door a couple of minutes ago."  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, you did. Max Steel dropped by."  
  
"Max? Well, what did he want?"  
  
She sighed heavily. "I think you'd better sit."  
  
Josh sat and she explained as much as Max had told her to him. He did his best to act like he had no prior knowledge of anything she said. "Wow," he said when she finally finished. "I'd swear this had to be some kind of joke if I didn't know Max."  
  
"So, this Max guy, he can be trusted right?"  
  
He looked at her, surprised at the thought that she wasn't sure if she trusted Max. He'd saved her hide twice now. "Yeah, he can be trusted. Why, do you not believe him or something?"  
  
"I don't know." Mindy stood and began pacing. "Well, I guess I do, it's just... My life has just been turned upside down for some reason I can't figure out. What am I supposed to think?"  
  
He nodded. If he were in her shoes, he wouldn't be sure who to trust either.  
  
"And on top of everything, the timing for this is just perfect," she added sarcastically.  
  
"What about the timing?" he asked curiously.  
  
She took a deep breath and sat so that she was facing him. "Josh, I didn't just come here to visit you." There was a pause as she saw his confused expression. "I'm moving to Del Oro." His eyes widened. "That's where I've been going everyday, I've been trying to find a place to live. I applied at Del Oro University and I got accepted. I applied for financial aid and I was given a grant. Not a big grant, but enough to pay most of my tuition for the year. If I do a good job this year, they'll consider giving me financial aid for as long as I attend. I start this fall. And I didn't tell you," she answered his question before it was asked, "because when I first applied, I wasn't sure I would be accepted. And after that, I knew you and Uncle Jeff would want to help me find a place and a job and everything. I wanted to do that on my own. So I didn't want to tell you until I had everything sorted out. I *could* live in the dorms, but I would get assigned a roommate that I don't know and I wouldn't have any privacy. If I can find a place before classes start, I can tell them to give the room to someone else."  
  
"You should've told me before."  
  
"I know. I kind of wanted it to be a surprise." She gave him a sheepish grin.  
  
Josh couldn't help but smile back. Under normal circumstances, he would be thrilled that she was moving here. However, his life was made of anything but normal circumstances. Because of Max Steel, it would mean one more person he cared about would be there for his enemies to target.  
  
Her smile faded and she looked down. "But now, with all these wierdos running around and..." She ran a hand over her face. "I don't know if it's such a great idea. It's too late to apply anywhere else and I already paid tuition for this semester. I really don't have a great choice now. I either move here, go to college, be with my favorite guy on the planet," she gestured towards him, "and have to worry about terrorists kiddnapping me, or I stay with my mom and miss college for a while, but not have to worry about this kind of thing."  
  
She shook her head despairingly. "I just don't understand why all this is happening. I don't have anything they could possibly want."  
  
He didn't know what to tell her. He loved the idea of being able to see her all the time. And if she really wanted to go to college here, that was her choice. What he didn't love was that if she did decide to go ahead with the move she would constantly be in danger. And he would have to keep lying to her so that she wouldn't find out about his job. She didn't seem to like the idea of changing her plans, and he didn't want her to be unhappy. Whatever she decided would have to be her decision. He wouldn't be able to advise her on this one.  
  
"Well, I got some time to think about it. So," she said, changing moods faster than he could change into Max, "did you get anything to give to Laura when her plane get's in?"  
  
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Boy, he dodged a bullet there. I'm sorry if the chapter stinks. I'm getting a case of writer's block. (What else is new?) If I'm getting boring, please let me know. Reviews help me think :o] 


	7. A Homecoming

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah.  
  
Not a whole lot of action going on in this chapter. Mostly character interactions. You know, Josh and Laura trying to be friends again, Mindy trying not to beat the living crap out of Pete, that kind of thing. And Mindy and Josh trying to deal with the fact that someone's after her.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Josh waited anxiously at the airport gate. Laura's flight would be arriving any minute now. Would she be happy to see him or would she avoid him at all costs? The suspense was killing him. He saw a plane pulling up to the gate. It was moving unbearably slow in his mind.  
  
Pete smiled when he saw the plane pulling in. He had missed his friend a lot. He glanced at Josh. The poor guy was a wreck, he could see it in his eyes. His eyes shifted to Mindy. She was excited at the idea of seeing Laura, but in contrast to her cousin, was otherwise calm. And she looked really pretty today, in a pair of dark jeans and white tank top with one of Josh's button up shirts tied up over it. Casually, he put an arm around her shoulders.  
  
Mindy felt her annoyance scale go up as she felt Pete's arm go around her. Not wanting to cause a scene right now, she simply picked up his hand and dropped it off her shoulder. She felt rather than saw Pete frown in response. She'd been trying to be nice, but with him not getting the hint, that was getting more difficult. How many ways were there to tell somone you don't like them without being a bitch about it? Not enough as far as she was concerned. So, most of the time she just tried to avoid him. If she didn't, she was afraid she might do something they'd both regret. Like kill him.  
  
She looked at her cousin nervously fiddling with the flowers he'd bought for Laura. He hadn't even noticed what Pete had done. Boy, he must really be out of it, she thought. She looked at the flowers in Josh's hands again. "Josh?" she said looking up at him.  
  
"Huh?" he answered distractedly.  
  
"I *really* don't think Laura would appreciate it if you kill the flowers before you give them to her."  
  
"Huh?" He looked down at them and realized Mindy was right. If he didn't quit fiddling with them, he was going to ruin them.  
  
"Josh, you have *got* to calm down," she told him.  
  
"Easier said than done, cuz."  
  
"Well, at least pretend to be calm, then." A mischevious smile appeared. "Oh, by the way, I'm pregnant."  
  
"What?" Josh snapped his head towards her, only to see her trying not to laugh.  
  
"I got your mind off of being nervous for a second, didn't I?"  
  
He gave her a look. "Morgan!" he wailed. "I swear you're going to give me a heart attack someday. And making someone almost wet their pants in shock is *not* the best way to make them stop being nervous."  
  
"You almost wet your pants?"  
  
He gave her the dirtiest look he could muster at the moment. That only seemed to amuze her more. Heck, even Pete thought it was funny.  
  
"Flight 903 is now unloading at gate 12," said someone on the loudspeaker.  
  
Josh took a deep breath before looking back at the gate he was standing near. People began filing out. It wasn't long before they spotted Laura.  
  
Laura turned her head as someone called her name. She could see Pete waving and walked over, overjoyed to see her friend. Then she spotted Josh and a girl standing with him. Instantly, she felt nervous. She hadn't spoken to Josh much since they broke up. Well, at least he hadn't brought that Rachel woman here. She hugged Pete. "Hey, " she greeted him, "it's good to see you." She turned to Josh, both hesitated. Caustiously, they hugged. It wasn't like she hadn't missed Josh, it was just that they hadn't parted on the best of terms. "Hi Josh."  
  
"Hi," he replied. Holding out the flowers, he said, "Welcome home."  
  
She couldn't help but smile as she took them. Then she turned her attention to the girl, who was standing there watching everything. She was vaugely familiar. After a second, she looked at the girls eyes. Laura recognized those eyes. Those eyes that looked so much like Josh's, yet different somehow. "Mindy?" she asked surprised.  
  
Mindy smiled. She hadn't expected to be recognized right off the bat. She nodded.  
  
Laura hugged her friend. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm good. Sorry about your trip."  
  
"It's okay. It turned out to be pretty boring anyway."  
  
The girls talked on and off as they collected her luggage and went out to the car. When they got evrything loaded and ready, Mindy hopped in the back seat next to Pete. She didn't really relish the idea of being stuck next to him, but she was hoping that, if they were sitting together, Laura and Josh would start talking. As long as Pete could keep his hands to himself she could put up with him.  
  
Pete was extatic when Mindy chose to sit next to him for the drive home. Maybe she was warming up to him.  
  
She didn't like that smile on Pete's face. He'd better not be thinking... *thoughts* about me, she thought. She got her answer to that one when, a minute or two later, Pete went to put his arm around her again. "Don't even dream it Costas," she growled, loud enough for the two in the front to hear.  
  
"Pete, what are you doing now?" asked Josh, trying not to crack a smile.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Romeo here is trying to make a move on me," said Mindy. "*Again.*"  
  
"Pete, come on. Leave her alone. 'Cause if you don't, she'll eventually bitch-slap you, I won't do a thing to stop it because quite frankly you'll deserve it, then I'll have to listen to you whine about it. And between work and school starting soon, I really don't want to have to deal with that shit."  
  
Laura had to laugh at Josh's words. She leaned a little closer to him and asked quietly, "Pete's got a crush on Mindy now?"  
  
"Uh-hu."  
  
She laughed some more. "Figures." She turned to the backseat. "I told you you should've been nicer to her when we were younger, Pete."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he mumbled. He just sat there pouting for the next few minutes.  
  
After a while of just driving in silence, Mindy kicked the back of the driver's seat. Josh sent her an annoyed look in the rear view mirror. She gave him an equally annoyed look. Her eyes darted from Josh to Laura and back again. Talk to her, she mouthed.  
  
Pete saw this. That's what was going on. She didn't want to sit with me, he thought sourly, she just wanted to play match-maker. Figures.  
  
When Josh failed to do what she'd told him, Mindy leaned forward at the next stoplight. "Laura, did you want to come over for dinner tonight? We're gonna have actual food."  
  
"I thought you said everything I buy isn't real food," Josh said dryly.  
  
"That's why I insisted on doing the shopping for you this morning."  
  
"You don't actually expect *me* to cook right?" he asked teasingly.  
  
"And burn down that beautiful house?" she replied just as teasingly. "No way. I can do it."  
  
"Since when do you cook?"  
  
"Since I think that if I eat one more frozen dinner, pizza or anything that bears the words instant or ready in 15 minutes I'll go crazy." She turned back to Laura. "So how about it?"  
  
"Sure, why not?"  
  
Mindy then turned to Pete. She couldn't invite Laura while he was sitting right there and then not invite him. Truth was, she kind of liked Pete. It was just that he was so freakin' annoying and so damn persistent about wanting her to date him. She just didn't like him that way. "How about you? You wanna come?"  
  
Mindy, inviting me over? "Sure." What was with this girl? One minute she seemed like she wanted to push him out of a moving car , the next she wanted to hang out. He couldn't understand it.  
  
Mindy knew what Pete was probably thinking. She didn't like it, but what could she do? If he was thick-headed enough to think she was giving off mixed signals that was his problem. Unfortunatly, his problem made him into one giant migraine for her. And she in turn became a headache to Josh by complaining about it. Then Pete would decide she was in denial or something, when Josh told him to back off, and be more of a pain to her. It was a viscious cycle. And now poor Laura was home and would probably get sucked into it somehow. As if Mindy didn't have enough problems right now. Then again, she was beginning to think dealing with a terrorist organization would be preferable to dealing with the raging hormones and stupidity of one Pete Costas.  
  
They dropped off both of Josh's friends and headed back to the beach house. Josh wasn't sure what she was planning to make. She wouldn't tell him. All he knew was there was some chicken defrosting on the counter. This morning she had talked him into letting her do the grocery shopping for the week. He'd given her $100 and made her promise to be careful and to not take longer than an hour. When he'd come back from N'Tek, it was time to go pick up Laura so he had no idea what she'd bought. Hell, he'd had no idea she could cook.  
  
When they got home, the first thing he did was check that no one was in the house. Once he was satisfied that they were alone, he let her come inside. She was slightly annoyed that he had made her wait in the car, but thought it was sweet that he worried so much.  
  
Pete and Laura were going to be there at around 5:30. Mindy decided to start cooking at around 4:00. Dinner didn't take that long to make. It was only about 1:45 now so she had some time. Remembering what she had meant to do earlier, she went off in search of her purse.  
  
Josh was sitting on the porch steps, staring at the ocean just across the street. He knew Mindy meant well by trying to get him and Laura to spend time together, but he was still a little annoyed at her obvious, to him at least, match-making efforts. He heard the door open and close behind him. There were footsteps and then Mindy sat down next to him. She didn't say anything. Just sat and let him stare.  
  
"Are you mad at me?" she asked suddenly after nearly five minutes.  
  
"Huh?" Josh snapped back to reality.  
  
She sighed. "Look, I know I should've asked you if it was okay before I asked Laura to come over. I just want you guys to at least be friends again. I know you're still in love with her and maybe if you guys spend a little time together..."  
  
He sighed heavily. "It's not that simple Morgan. You don't just go up to someone and say, "Hey, I know I cheated on you and everything, but do you want to go out with me again?" It just doesn't work that way."  
  
"I know. Why do you think I want you to talk to her so much? I know she's not going to come around right away, but getting back to being friends is a good start. I mean, you two were pretty tense today. I'd have to be a complete idiot to think it wasn't going to take some time and a lot of effort. And I'm not an idiot."  
  
Josh looked at her. He started to open his mouth.  
  
"You open that yap of yours and I'll staple it shut," she warned. A small laugh had emerged with the words.  
  
Josh just laughed and put his arm around her.  
  
"Oh, before I forget again, here." She handed him a few bills and some change.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"Your change from the grocery store."  
  
"Change?" He looked at her as if that was a forigen concept.  
  
"Yeah. You know, the money they give you back after you paid for everything."  
  
"I know what change is. I just don't think I've ever had this much change after I go shopping."  
  
"News flash, Einsteine. It's cheaper to buy food that hasn't been cooked yet."  
  
He mock glared at her. "Are you implying I'm stupid?"  
  
"I'm not implying anything," she assured him. She stood and took a step back towards the door. "I'm telling you straight to your face." Then she ran inside.  
  
He sat there for a second longer, contemplating what he should do next. Then he stood and ran into the house after her.  
  
  
  
Laura went through her clothes again. What should she wear? She flopped onto her bed with a sigh. What was she getting so worked up about. It was just dinner with a couple of friends. And her ex-boyfriend. The love of her life, who had broken her heart. Why had she agreed to this? She eyed the phone. She could always say she was feeling the effects of traveling, but she didn't want to pass up a chance to spend a little time with Pete and Mindy before school started. Spending time with Josh was another story entirely. She still wasn't sure how to feel about him after what had happened. Forgivness was something she still wasn't sure she should, could, or wanted to give him. Part of her said that he didn't deserve to be her friend after what he'd done. At the same time, she missed him badly. Why was life so confusing?  
  
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I finally got this chapter done. Laura's finally in the story. Yay! The next chapter might take a while. Sorry to anyone who might be waiting for the rest. Like I said, reviews help me think. :o) 


	8. Just Hanging Out

Disclaimer: If you had been paying attention during the previous chapters, you would already know this. _______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Will you please tell me what we're having?" Delicious smells were wafting through the house. It was driving Josh crazy.  
  
"No," called Mindy from the kitchen. "Are you done setting the table?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
The doorbell rang. Josh went to answer it. He found Pete and Laura standing on the porch. Josh swallowed hard. Even in a simple blue t-shirt and form-fitting jeans, Laura looked beautiful to him. He plastered a smile on his face and stepped aside so they could come in. "Hi."  
  
"Hi," they both replied.  
  
"Morgan, they're here," he called.  
  
"Hi guys," she called from the kitchen. "Perfect timing. I just finished up in here."  
  
"*Now* will you tell me what's for dinner?" asked Josh.  
  
"No, but you can come in here and help me get it to the table."  
  
Josh's shoulders slumped. "Why do I like her so much?" he asked his friends. They shrugged.  
  
"I heard that, Josh. Now get in here and help me."  
  
Josh walked into the kitchen grumbling to himself. Laura couldn't understand most of it, but she heard something like, "it's my house, yet *she* orders *me* around," and, "why do I put up with this?" Laura had to fight the urge to say, "Because she's got you trained," knowing the respose would be a look that could kill.  
  
  
  
After dinner, which had consisted of salad, fresh breadsticks and fettucini alfredo with brocolli and grilled chicken, Josh leaned back in his chair. Laura helped Mindy to clear the dishes since they both knew if they left it up to the boys, it would never get done. It wouldn't take long to get them done anyway. Josh had a dishwasher.  
  
"Where did you learn to cook like that?" asked Josh as the girls cleared the table.  
  
"I took a home-ec class a couple of years ago. My teacher thought I had a lot of talent and started giving me free lessons after school."  
  
Josh and Pete looked surprised. "*You* took a home-ec class?" asked Pete.  
  
Mindy looked over at him. "The class I wanted was full and there weren't a lot of other choices left."  
  
"Still, home-ec?"  
  
She looked indignant. "I do have *some* girl-like qualities." She went into the kitchen.  
  
"You sure do," he mumbled as he watched her walk away.  
  
Josh scowled. He whacked Pete upside the head.  
  
"Ow! What?"  
  
"Stop oggling my baby cousin!" He glared at his best friend.  
  
  
  
In the kitchen, Laura and Mindy were rinsing the dishes so they could put them in the dishwasher. Well, Mindy was rinsing dishes. Laura was getting some tupperware out of the cabinet to put the leftovers in.  
  
"So," said Laura casually, "how's Josh been these days?"  
  
"Fine, as far as I can tell from the time I've been here."  
  
"When did you get here?"  
  
"Tommorow it'll be a week."  
  
"How long are you staying?"  
  
"I'm going back to North Carolina the day before my birthday so I can spend it with my mom. Then I'm going to come back here just before school starts."  
  
Laura looked confused. "You're coming back?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm going to be going to Del Oro U this year."  
  
"Oh. That's great. Are you going to be staying with Josh?"  
  
"Oh, no. I'm going to be staying in the dorms. Unless, of course, I can find a place I can afford before class starts."  
  
"An affordable place? In *Del Oro*?" Laura snorted. "Well good luck to you. If there were any affordable places around here, I would be there instead of living with my parents this year."  
  
"Don't you usually stay in the dorms?"  
  
"Yeah, but when the research trip got cancelled, I had to apply late. There aren't enough dorms and there's already a waiting list for them. I'm *way* at the end of the list. And I went through the paper today. I can't find anything that I can afford."  
  
"Ugh. I know what you mean. I can't find anything livable that I can afford. Heck I'm having trouble finding a dump that I can afford." She sighed. "I don't know, maybe if I had a roommate I could afford it, but so far it looks like I'm dorm bound." She finished loading the dishwasher and closed it.  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean. If I had a roommate, I could probably move out of my parents house. But I'd have to put out an ad for one. I just hate the idea of living with someone I don't know, you know?"  
  
"Why do you think I'm so against the dorms? If I stay there, I get stuck with someone I don't know for nine months, whether I like it or not, whether I like *them* or not. If I put an ad in the paper, it's pretty much the same thing."  
  
Both girls were suddenly silent. They looked at each other. Neither wanted to stay where they had to this year. The only way out was a roommate, but neither wanted to be stuck with someone they didn't know and they couldn't afford to get out of staying someplace they didn't want to without a roommate. They were in the same boat. They knew each other pretty well and got along.  
  
"Did you find a place you like?" asked Laura.  
  
"Yeah. It's close to the college and it's really nice. The problem is it's $575 a month. I can afford $300, maybe $400 if I really scrape. It's got two bedrooms."  
  
"Hmm, so split in half the rent would be about," she did a quick calculation in her head, "$287.50."  
  
"Yeah. I could swing that easy."  
  
"When did you find this place?"  
  
"Yesterday."  
  
"Would you mind me living with you?"  
  
"You read my mind. I hope the place is still availabe." She dried her hands and went to the phone. A pad of paper sat on the table next to the phone. On it were scribbled some phone numbers from the classified ads. It took Mindy only a moment to locate the number and dial. "Oh," she turned to Laura as the line rang, "it's not actually available for a couple of weeks. That ok?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
  
  
Ten minutes later, the girls exited the kitchen to find the boys engaged in a video game showdown. There was yelling and noise that goes on when boys play violent video games. They were so pre-occupied with the game that they didn't notice they had an audience.  
  
Laura didn't know whether to be amuzed at their antics or disgusted with their immaturity. "What is it with boys, video games and explosions?"  
  
"Beats me," answered Mindy. "I have yet to figure out why they spell rejection D-E-N-I-A-L when in actuallity it's spelled R-E-J-E-C-T-I-O-N. Well, I should be fair. *Some* boys are like that."  
  
"Any guy in particular?" She knew very well who Mindy was talking about right now.  
  
"Any guy I wouldn't touch with a 50 foot pole."  
  
Laura smiled. After a minute of watching the two play, she turned back to Mindy. "Want to go in the backyard and see how long it takes them to notice we're gone?"  
  
"Sounds good to me."  
  
As they had predicted, it took almost 20 minutes for Pete and Josh to realize they weren't in the house. For a second, Josh had panicked. Then he glanced out the back door and saw them looking at their watches. It didn't take him long to figure out what was going on. Oh, that's cute, he thought sarcastically.  
  
When Josh and Pete walked outside, Mindy glanced at her watch again. "Hmm, 18 minutes and 57 seconds. I win." She held out her hand and Laura grudgingly dug a $5 bill out of her pocket and handed it over.  
  
The look Josh sent them could have wilted flowers, but had no effect on them whatsoever. They both knew that, no matter how mad he was, he would never physically hurt them.  
  
The next few hours were spent talking and basically just hanging out. It was almost 11:00 when the two cousins walked their friends to the door. "Well, that was fun," said Josh. "We should do it again some time."  
  
The others nodded in agreement.  
  
"Oh, there's an air show the day after tomorrow. And there's supposed to be a fair being held in the same place to raise money for some kind of charity fund. Uh, for homeless veterans I think. We should go."  
  
Josh stiffened slightly at his cousins suggestion. She wanted to go out in public to hang out? *Now*? When she *knew* that someone was after her? He tried to think of a way to veto the idea, but couldn't come up with one good reason why they should not go.  
  
"That sounds fun," said Laura.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Pete.  
  
Josh mentally cursed as all eyes turned on him to confirm the outing. Damn it! Mindy had done that on purpose! She knew if the others thought it was a good idea he wouldn't be able to object. "Uh, sounds great." He plastered a fake smile on.  
  
"Great. So we'll see you guys later," said Laura.  
  
She and Pete walked out the door to Pete's car. Josh watched as they climbed in before he shut the door. He stayed facing the door. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself a little and listened to the car start. As soon as it was out of the driveway, he turned to Mindy, who had been patiently awaiting his response.  
  
"Are you out of your freaking mind!?" he demanded. "There is a terrorist group after you and you want to go to an air show?!"  
  
"Josh, calm down," she said quietly.  
  
"I will *not* calm down! Why did you do that?"  
  
Knowing he was referring to the sneaky way she'd roped him into this, she turned wearily away from him. "You never would've agreed if I hadn't done it," she said simply.  
  
"Damn right I wouldn't have. Right now you should be laying low. Don't you remember what Max said?"  
  
She remembered alright. "He said to make sure people know where I am at all times and to not go anywhere alone. Laura, Pete and you will be with me."  
  
He let out a frusterated sigh. "Alright. But, don't you think it would be safer to stay indoors for a while? I know I would feel a whole lot better knowing you were safe at home. And I'm sure Max would agree with me."  
  
She whirled around and looked him straight in the eye. "What am I supposed to do Josh?" she demanded. "Just sit here and wait for them to come get me? Sit here and *hope* that you and Max can protect me? Is that what you want, for me to sit locked up in this house forever? I can't do that! I'd go crazy and you know it, because so would you in my position!"  
  
Josh ran a hand over his face. She was right. He couldn't force her to stay in the house. She was having a rough enough time trying to understand what was going on. He couldn't just deny her her freedom so he could feel better. There was a pleading look in her eyes now, and he didn't have the heart to make this any harder for her. Besides, there was no way to fight a look like that. He sighed in defeat. "Alright. You win. We can go."  
  
She stepped closer to him.  
  
"But," he added, "you have to promise me you won't go anywhere alone and you have to have that radio on you at all times, even if I'm only 5 feet away. Agreed?"  
  
She nodded. She stepped forward and hugged him. He was only trying to protect her, she knew. At this point though, no one, not even him, could protect her from the confusion and frusteration that was slowly eating away at her. If she didn't find away to forget everything that was going on, even for a little while, it would eat her from the inside out.  
  
Josh hugged his cousin back. He'd told her they would go, and they would. But maybe, he thought as a plan began to formulate in his head, he could make it just a little safer for her.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
To anyone whose been following the story, my sincerest apologies for taking so long. Anyone whose ever written before should know all about writers block. And the fact that I'm working on another fanfic and a novel ain't helping much. And I did warn you earlier that this might happen. I am doing my best and will try to get the next chapter done as soon as possible.  
  
Rhiannon Faylinn 


	9. A Day At The Fair Pt One

Disclaimer: If I owned Max Steel what, exactly, would I be doing on Fanfiction.net?  
  
Mindy gets to meet some of her cousin's co-workers. If you wanna know how *that* turns out, keep reading.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"You want me to *what*?" asked Berto.  
  
"It's just a small favor. Besides, you could use a day off."  
  
"You want me to go to an air show/fair to watch your cousin?"  
  
"Basically," admitted Max. Somehow, it sounded different when Berto said it.  
  
Berto shook his head in disbelief. "Max, Dread has what is potentially one of the deadliest weapons this world has ever seen, and you want me to take time off to go play bodyguard for Mindy. I can't take a day off. And even if I could, I'm *not* going to an air show."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Don't you remember what happened last time I went to an air show with you?"  
  
"Oh, come on bro, what are the odds of that happening again?"  
  
"Hermano, if there's one thing I have learned since we met, it's that, if *you're* involved, *anything* is possible."  
  
Max didn't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment. "Oh, come on bro," he pleaded. "Our mole in DREAD told us that whatever Smiley and Dread are planning, it won't be for at least a few more days. Why not have some fun while we can?"  
  
"I don't think I would enjoy myself."  
  
"Well, you never know. You might have fun."  
  
"Did I hear the word 'fun'?"  
  
Berto and Max turned to see Kat leaning against the doorway.  
  
"You did," said Max.  
  
"Ooh. What are we talking about?" She sauntered up to them.  
  
Max quickly explained his situation. "Maybe you can help me convince him to go."  
  
"Well, am I invited?" she asked.  
  
Max hesitated. "I don't know Kat. You were at the ice rink. What if she recognizes you?"  
  
"There were a hundred people there that night. What are the odds that she'll remember me?"  
  
Max snorted. "You'd be surprised how much that girl notices."  
  
"You know, Mindy was pretty much shoved out the door the second Kat got there. She probably didn't get a good look at her," pointed out Berto. "And Kat actually wants to go. Why not just take her?"  
  
"Well, I *was* thinking about it," he said reluctantly.  
  
"Besides, I want to meet her," added Kat. "Everyone's been curious after that little affectionate display at the the ice rink."  
  
Max glared at her. He knew exactly what 'display' she was talking about. She was talking about when Mindy had hit him and yelled at him for scaring her. He'd been teased mercilessly for days after that had gotten around N'Tek. His glare moved to Berto as he heard him snicker. "It wasn't that funny," he informed them. "And this doesn't mean I don't still want you to go."  
  
"Why do you want *me* to go so bad?" demanded Berto.  
  
"I'd feel better if there was more than one N'Tek agent there."  
  
"You *are* an N'Tek agent."  
  
"She's my cousin, so I don't count."  
  
"Wha-," said a now frusterated Berto. "Even if that last part made any sense, there are plenty of other agents who would probably be willing to go."  
  
"Most of them aren't her age. I don't want her to feel wierd because I brought someone 15 years older than her."  
  
"I'm not going Max," he stated firmly.  
  
"Oh, come on Berto," said Kat. "Live a little. It's not like he's asking you to go shark diving with dead fish tied to you."  
  
"I think I'd be safer with the sharks than I would with his cousin," mumbled Berto.  
  
"Hey!" said Max. "What is *that* supposed to mean?"  
  
"She's wierd Max."  
  
"That may be, but that doesn't make her a bad person."  
  
"You need to learn to have some fun," insisted Kat. "You never stop working."  
  
"That is not true," he protested.  
  
"Food and bathroom breaks do not qualify as time off," she said drily.  
  
Berto's shoulders slumped. "Neither one of you is going to leave me alone until I agree to this, are you?"  
  
The two older agents pretended to think for a second. "No," they told him.  
  
"Alright," he relented.  
  
"Great. See you tomorrow," said Max as he and Kat both left the room.  
  
Berto plopped into his chair in front of the main console. "I could've worked at a major corporation and led a somewhat normal life. But *nooo*. I had to work for N'Tek. On Team Steel."  
  
  
  
Berto and Kat arrived at the fair grounds entrance a few minutes early. It was a very large area surrounded by a high chain link fence. Last night they had arranged to meet the others there at 11:00am. Berto was still not even remotely looking forward to this day.  
  
Josh had told Mindy, Laura and Pete that he had invited a couple of friends from work to join them today. Mindy and Laura seemed to have grown on the idea when they realized that his friends might know some embarassing things about Josh from work. Pete was the only one who knew the real reason why they'd been invited.  
  
Josh grumbled as they searched for a parking space. The place was packed. After about five minutes of driving around, he found a spot. Everyone climbed out of the car and he activated the anti-theft system. They were about 150 feet from from the entrance. As they walked, Josh noticed that a lot of guys were looking in their direction. His first thought was that they were checking out Laura. That happened a lot. He'd gotten used to that a long time ago. Then it dawned on him that she wasn't the only one guys were giving appreciative looks to. "You know Morgan, I think maybe you should go back to the car and get your jacket," he suggested.  
  
Mindy looked up at him, surprised. "Josh, it's only 5 after 11 and it's already like 80 degrees. I don't need a jacket."  
  
"Well, then maybe we should buy you a shirt that covers a little more once we get inside."  
  
Mindy looked down at her outfit as the other two looked at Josh like he was crazy. Her outfit consisted of a pair of blue jeans, running shoes, a black mini-backpack, and a gray v-neck t-shirt that gently hugged her figure. The v cut went just deep enough that top of the cleft of her breasts showed. It was like a quarter of an inch of cleavage. None of them could see anything really revealing about the outfit. "Josh," she looked back up at him, "you're acting like I'm dressed like Britney Spears or something. I don't look anywhere *near* that skanky."  
  
Josh couldn't argue with that one.  
  
"In fact, if I ever *do* look even *half* that bad, you have full permission to slap some sense into me."  
  
They reached the main entrance then. Josh looked around for Berto and Kat. He spotted them leaning against the ticket booth. He waved them over. Laura and Pete had met Berto before, so there was no need for an introduction except to Mindy. She extended a hand as he was introduced. He was a little surprised but shook it. She had a very firm handshake, he noticed. Kat was next.  
  
"So this is the famous Mindy," she said shaking her extended hand. "We've all heard so much about you."  
  
Mindy raised her hands in an innocent gesture. "I deny everything."  
  
This caused chuckles and a few mumbles of "yeah right" from Pete and Josh.  
  
As they paid the entrance fee, everyone noticed the death glare that Josh gave to the guy in the booth when he caught him giving Mindy the once over. Once they were inside, Josh proceeded to give the same look to any guy who so much as glanced at his cousin. After a few minutes of this, Laura pulled Josh aside. "What are you doing?" she asked.  
  
"I'm making sure the guys here keep their grubby mitts off my baby cousin."  
  
She sighed. "Josh, she's about to turn 19 and you are still referring to her as your baby cousin. Do you see something wrong with this picture?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Josh, Mindy is more than capable of taking care of herself. You need to stop being so over-protective."  
  
"I don't want to."  
  
Laura shook her head and went to catch up with everyone else. She really wanted to talk to Kat and find out just how good of friends she and Josh were. Just out of curiosity of course. (A/N: Insert author's snicker here.)  
  
When they caught up to the others, Kat and Mindy were talking quietly. Berto was standing off to the side, looking bored, and Pete was shamelessly trying to flirt with a girl whose body was barely covered by her tiny tank top. Laura noted that Mindy had positioned herself so that both of Josh's friends were between herself and Pete.  
  
"Hi," said Laura. "What are we talking about?"  
  
"Actually," answered Mindy, "we're placing bets on how Pete's new romantic interest is going to respond to him. Judging by the way his eyes keep wandering to her chest, I'm betting he gets either told off or slapped."  
  
"That's what I think, too," said Kat.  
  
"Well, if we all agree, how can we place a bet?" asked Laura.  
  
"Good point," said Kat. "Oh well, let's just see if we're right." They nodded and watched.  
  
Sure enough, after a minute, the girl looked furious at something Pete had said. She slapped him hard and stormed off. He turned when he heard giggling. Berto was carefully hiding his smile behind his hand while pretending to scratch his nose. Josh was biting his lip and looking in another direction. The girls, on the other hand, were flat out laughing at him.  
  
"Smooth move, Casa Nova," commented Mindy. Pete's response was to glare at them, especially Mindy, and rub his now red cheek.  
  
"*What* did you say to her?" asked Laura.  
  
Pete turned a little pink and looked away.  
  
"Let me guess, the other head took over and you accidentally made a comment about her boobs." Pete turned an interesting shade of purple at Mindy's guess. "I didn't know a human could turn that color," she commented, only making it worse.  
  
"How did you know what he did?" asked Kat.  
  
"You would be amazed how many guys I've hurt worse for doing kind of thing that to me."  
  
That got Josh's attention. "What?"  
  
Realizing her mistake in letting her very protective older cousin hear that, she tried to change the subject. "Oh, look ! A jewery booth. Let's go." She grabbed both Laura and Kat by the arm and dragged them off.  
  
"Hold it," called Josh.  
  
"Can't, got to look before everything good is gone."  
  
"Ok," said Pete. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just let it go. We all know she can take care of herself as far as guys are concerned."  
  
"Not always," muttered Josh.  
  
Pete sighed. So that's what had him hot under the collar. "Josh, that was different. And the only person at fault was him, not you or her. And she's a lot pickier about who she trusts now."  
  
Berto didn't have a clue what they were talking about. It was obviously a touchy subject. He could find out later. "Um, if we're supposed to be watching Mindy, shouldn't we be over at the booth they're at?"  
  
Josh looked over at him. Reluctantly, he nodded. Quickly recovering himself, he headed over to the booth where the three girls were looking through an assortment of necklaces, earings, and braclets.  
  
Kat seemed to have hit it off with Laura and Mindy. Josh was grateful for that. It wasn't that surprising. Kat's enthusiasm for life was infectious. When Berto nudged him, he turned around.  
  
"Don't you think it's about time for Max to give Mindy that little 'gift'?"  
  
"I wanted her to have some fun before reminding her that her life is at risk."  
  
"Don't you think she might have more fun knowing she has a way to contact Max if she needs him?"  
  
He sighed. "Alright, alright. Just watch her till I get back." He went over to the girls. I'll be right back," he announced. "I got to go to the bathroom."  
  
"Thanks for sharing," said Kat. In return, he gave her a look.  
  
"I told ya you shouldn't have had that third cup of coffee," said Mindy. She got the same look.  
  
As soon as he was out of earshot, Laura asked, "How much cologne is he wearing today?"  
  
"Like half a bottle," said Mindy in a dry tone. "You should've seen him this morning. He spent more time in the bathroom than I did. He had to look perfect today."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Honestly, he'll kill me if I tell you that."  
  
"Tell me anyway."  
  
"Well," she looked around to make sure the guys were out of earshot. "I, uh, I think he was trying to impress you."  
  
"What?" Laura looked absolutly bewildered. "But... why? I mean we broke up and..."  
  
"And I don't think he's over it," stated Mindy.  
  
"But it was months ago," protested Laura.  
  
"And he's been in love with you since forever. What happened between him and that Rachel chick was a mistake. He knows that. And at least he told you. Most guys wouldn't have done that much. And I'll tell you this, there are a lot of things he could've done with her besides kissing, but he didn't. He hasn't even been on a date since you two broke up."  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
Mindy nodded. "You should've seen him when he found out you were coming home. He was like a little kid that just found out he's going to Disney World. And when we went to pick you up, he was an absolute wreck. He was so afraid you wouldn't want anything to do with him ever again."  
  
There was a moment of stunned silence. Just as Laura opened her mouth to speak, someone cleared their throat behind them. All three girls turned around. Laura and Mindy's eyes widened as they came face to face with Max Steel.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Okay, a big thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. And thank you for all the suggestions. However, I decided long ago how the story would end. It's just getting from point A to point B that's the problem. Seriously, it's not that I don't appreciate the attempts to help, I do. After all, I did complain of writer's block. And most of the suggestions are that Mindy finds out about Max and Josh. I'm not going to tell you if she does or not. I already know if that will happen or not. You, however, will just have to wait and see. And if you guys want one, I have some ideas for a sequel. Once again, I don't mean to be rude or anything and I do appreciate the suggestions, but I already know where the story is going.  
  
Until the next update,  
  
Rhiannon Faylinn 


	10. A Day At The Fair Pt Two

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies for all characters except for Mindy/Morgan.  
  
A/N: In the last chapter, I implied something bad happened to Mindy that Josh is having a hard time dealing with. Something did happen to her when she was younger. Not to worry, everything will be explained in due time. I promise you that much.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Max," said both girls at once. They looked at each other, even more surprised. Kat had to fight to supress a smile and still look totally lost as to what was going on.  
  
"Mindy," greeted Max. He looked at the other girl. "Laura."  
  
"Max, what are you doing here?" asked Mindy. Silently, she prayed that it was just a random run-in and nothing was wrong. Not today when she was spending time with her friends. And Pete and the quiet guy in glasses. Berto, wasn't it?  
  
Max tore his gaze away from Laura and addressed Mindy. "I came to, um..." he trailed off. "Can we take a quick walk?"  
  
Mindy hesitated for a second. Then she nodded. She followed him away from the others. "What is it?" she asked.  
  
"I wanted to check on you. You know, for someone who has a terrorist organization eyeing them, you sure go out a lot," he commented.  
  
Great, just what I needed, she thought. Not only do I have to deal with Josh, now I gotta deal with Max, too. "I can't stay cooped up in Josh's house all the time. I go crazy when I stay in one place for too long."  
  
"I understand," he assured her. "Believe me, I do. But this is your life we're talking about Mindy."  
  
"I realize that Max. And I'd rather spend my life living than cowering in a house."  
  
That was when the scent hit her. She stared looking around for the source. She didn't see him anywhere. After a while her eyes rested on Max. Curious, she leaned forward and sniffed, utterly bewildering Max. "Are you wearing Gravity cologne?" she asked.  
  
"Um, yeah. Why?"  
  
"That's the same stuff Josh wears."  
  
Oh, fuck! He'd completely forgotten about the cologne he'd generously splashed on this morning. At least he had brought an extra t-shirt so she wouldn't recognize what he was wearing. What was *wrong* with him lately? He kept making stupid mistakes when it came to hiding his identity from his cousin. "Really?" he asked, trying to play innocent. At her nod, he said "Interesting."  
  
He decided it would be best if he just did what he was supposed to do and get back to being Josh. "Listen, I can't guarentee that I'll be nearby 24/7. So, if you need me," he held out his hand, "just press on this." In his palm was a small badge or pin.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's a transmitter. If you press down on it, it will send out a signal to me. It's not very sesitive, so it will only work if you're trying to send out the signal. And it works best if you put your thumb behind it and press with another finger."  
  
Mindy took the pin and took a close look at it. There was a small hologram of earth on the front. She looked up at Max with questioning eyes.  
  
"If it looks like a fashion accessory, it will seem less suspicious," he explained.  
  
"Oh." She carefully attatched the pin to the collar of her shirt. "So, if I need you, all I have to do is pinch down on this and you'll know."  
  
He nodded. "It doesn't matter what you need me for. I'll be there as fast as possible."  
  
"So, if I can't open a jar and Josh isn't around, I can call you?"  
  
He gave her a look.  
  
She held up her hands. "Hey, you said it didn't matter what I needed you for. And I was just kidding anyway."  
  
He just rolled his eyes. He led her back to where the others were. "If you insist on going out, at least promise me you'll be careful."  
  
"I promise."  
  
"And if the signal *is* somehow triggered by accident, you can't turn it off, but there's a tiny microphone in it. Twist the pin to the right to activate it. If it was an accident, just say so into the microphone. Twist it back to the left to turn it off."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"I have to go now. Remember, if you need me for anything at all, use the pin."  
  
She nodded. She was a little dissapointed he couldn't stay and hang out with them.  
  
Max nodded to Laura and dissapeared into the crowd.  
  
"How do you know Max?" asked Laura.  
  
"Last week, some freak show attacked the skating rink. Max showed up, and fought the guy. Josh and I were there. So was Pete."  
  
"Ok, but why did he want to talk to you?"  
  
Mindy visably hesitated. "I can't tell you that Laura. I'm sorry, but I promised Max."  
  
Laura had known Mindy long enough to know that her word was important to her. She would never tell her what she and Max had talked about. "You and him aren't, um, you know?" The question was out before Laura could stop it. Despite the fact that she still had some feelings for Josh, there was still that undeniable attraction to Max as well. Just another part of life that has to be confusing, she thought.  
  
"Involved?" suggested Mindy. "No. I don't think I *could* date Max, even if I wanted to. He reminds me too much of Josh."  
  
"Josh?" asked Laura, surprised by the comparison. She had certainly never thought of the two as being alike. "How does he remind you of Josh?"  
  
"Yeah. I mean, they don't really *look* anything alike, but they act alike. I mean, they both love extreme sports and are really, *really* good at them. They're both pretty laid back. They both drive convertables, they're smart asses, they're about the same height and build, and they both seem to be exceedingly protective of me for some reason. They even wear the same cologne. Weird, huh?"  
  
Now that she mentioned it, that *was* weird. When it was all laid out in front of her, Laura did notice the similarities.  
  
Mindy didn't even bother to ask how Laura knew Max.  
  
Josh came trotting back over to them. "Sorry it took so long. Got a little lost."  
  
"'Sokay," said Mindy. She was eyeing a necklace hanging on a rack in the booth. It was a 2 inch sword with a snake and a rose twined around it. It was entirely silver. Except at the top, where there was a tiny crystal serving as the end of the sword's hilt. In her eyes, it was extremely beautiful. She wondered why such a beautiful thing hadn't been bought already. When she saw the price tag, she stopped wondering. Genuine silver and crystal, it read, $50. She frowned. Though she wanted the necklace badly, she wouldn't buy it. She had brought $100 today. And, considering she was about to move across the country in a few weeks, she was pushing her budget a little. Prices were generally a little steep at most fairs. Therefore, she wasn't about to spend half of her money right off the bat.  
  
Berto was the only one who noticed the way Mindy was looking at that necklace. It was nice he supposed. Obviously she thought it more than just nice. He expected her to buy it at any moment. So he was pretty surprised when, when Josh suggested moving on to see what else they had for sale, she simply followed. Confused, he lagged behind and took a closer look at it. No wonder, he thought, seeing the price. But, now he was confused as to why she hadn't asked Josh to get it for her. It was no secret that he would do practically anything for her.  
  
At the next booth, Pete had stopped to look at some pocket knives. The others glanced at the knives. Berto heard Josh ask Mindy if she had seen anything she liked. She answered in the negative. As soon as Josh had wandered closer to Pete, Berto stepped up behind Mindy. "Liar," he said quietly.  
  
Mindy jumped about a mile when she heard someone that close to her. She gave him a glare that could've wilted flowers. "What was that?" She hissed at him.  
  
"I saw you looking at that necklace. Why didn't you tell Josh? He would've bought it for you."  
  
"I know he would have. That's why I didn't tell him." At his confused look, she explained. "Josh has paid for basically everything since I got here. The only thing he hasn't paid for was the bill on my rental car. And the only reason he didn't pay for that was because Uncle Jeff insisted on paying it. I don't like them doing everything for me. I mean, it's kind of nice but....  
  
"But, you want to do some things by yourself," he finished.  
  
"Yeah. So, don't tell him alright?"  
  
"Alright."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Hey, Berto, Morgan," called Josh. "You two coming?" He and the others had begun walking.  
  
Mindy immeadiatly followed. Berto started to as well, but something held him back. He glanced back at the booth that sold jewelry. After a moment of hesitation, he went back to it. Politley, he asked the woman to ring up the necklace. He pulled one of several $50 bills out of his wallet. As soon as he was done, he rushed to catch up with the others, wondering what in the hell had possessed him to do what he'd just done. He barely even knew the girl and he'd just spent $50 dollars on her. What was wrong with him?  
  
"Why does Josh call you Morgan?" asked Kat. "Is it your real name or something and you just don't like it?"  
  
"If I didn't like it, I wouldn't let him call me that. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Well, no one else calls you Morgan, so I was wondering about it."  
  
"Kind of a long story, but..." Mindy sighed, realizing Kat's ears had perked up. Right now she actually looked like a curious cat. " Short version is when we were little, my.... someone read us a couple of stories about King Arthur. We used to play it all the time. Josh was always King Arthur and I was always Morgan la Fey. The name just kind of stuck after that. Even after we stopped playing the game. I don't like anyone else calling me Morgan because it was always Josh's name for me."  
  
Kat nodded. "Josh mentioned you're going to school with him this year. Del Oro U is kind of selective. Your parents must be thrilled you got in."  
  
Mindy stopped cold. Laura cringed. Kat knew she had said something wrong.  
  
Mindy cleared her throat. "My mom is thrilled."  
  
"Well, what about your dad?"  
  
Mindy hurriedly caught up to Josh and jumped on his back.  
  
"Um, did I goof?" Kat asked Laura. "Is she upset with me?"  
  
"Well, mentioning her father wasn't the best move."  
  
"Why? Is he dead or something?"  
  
"We don't know."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Mindy's dad walked out on her and her mom when she was 13. He didn't leave them with much either. A couple of months after he left, he stopped calling. No one's seen the bastard since."  
  
"Ouch," said Kat. "I really shouldn't have brought him up then, huh?"  
  
"It's okay. You didn't know. Her and her mom have done pretty well, all things considered, but it was really hard on them. Mindy especially. She loved the guy a lot. She went through one of those phases where you don't care what happens to you. She started drinking and partying. 'Course that didn't last long."  
  
"Why, what stopped it?"  
  
"I don't know if I should tell you that. It's really personal. Not exactly something that she likes broadcasted. If she wants you to know, she'll tell you."  
  
Josh was talking to Berto and Pete when someone suddenly jumped on his back. He glanced over his shoulder. "Hi," said his cousin.  
  
"Morgan, get off me."  
  
"Um," she said, looking thoughtful. "No."  
  
Josh sighed. "Aren't we a little old for piggy back rides?"  
  
"And your point is?"  
  
Pete had seen this kind of thing happen many times before. He wasn't really fazed by it. Berto, on the other hand, found their behavior quite funny. He listened to them affectionatly arguing about the proper maturity level of a legal adult. An argument that Mindy won when she pointed out that people who knew them both often said they had similar personalities. That shut him up real quick. Berto and Pete had to fight to keep from laughing or agreeing. She was right. In a lot of ways, they were similar. At least half of their personality traits were identical. Especially when it came to being stubborn or a smart-alec.  
  
  
  
A man was following the group at a discreet distance. He wore a baseball cap to cover the tiny reciever and microphone on his ear. "What is the status?" asked a voice through the reciever.  
  
"There are 3 N'Tek agents with her," he said. "Steel must have been expecting something."  
  
"Continue to watch them. If you have an opportunity, take it. If not, she is not essential to the plans. And we still have time. Steel can't watch her every second."  
  
  
  
At about 2:00, they decided to get some lunch. There was an area where some benches and tables had been set up. They couldn't find an open table that could fit all of them. So they divded into two groups and sat at the two closest tables they could find. The girls sat at one table, while the boys sat at another.  
  
Mindy found her eyes drifting around for any sign of trouble as she talked and ate with her friends. She did notice a guy in a baseball cap looking at her at one point. He turned away the moment he saw her look over. She felt that shiver up her spine. Her fingers itched to use the pin to call Max, but the guy hadn't really done anything. She didn't call him, but she didn't ignore the feeling she had after what had happened the last time she'd ignored her instincts. Keeping a lookout for that guy wouldn't be such a bad idea.  
  
"Kat?" She asked suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Do you think Berto is aware that there is a pretty girl checking him out?"  
  
The other girls looked over. Berto was sitting there, reading some pamphlets he'd gotten from a couple of booths. He was completely absorbed in them. And Mindy was right. There was a redheaded girl looking at him and trying to catch his eye.  
  
"That's Berto for ya," said Kat. "I don't know if he's *ever* noticed a girl checking him out. He seriously needs to get out more."  
  
"He never notices?" Mindy was surprised. "I saw at least 20 girls give him the once over just in the first hour we were here."  
  
"My bet is he didn't notice. He seems to think girls aren't interested in him. I don't think he's had a girlfriend since I've known him."  
  
"Why not? I mean, he's cute, why wouldn't girls like him?" She saw the amuzed looks they were now giving her. "What?"  
  
"You think he's cute, huh?" asked Laura.  
  
"Well, I'm not blind. And just because you think someone's cute doesn't mean you like them. Now stop looking at me like that." The cheshire cat grins remained plastered to their faces.  
  
About 15 minutes later, Berto was still reading those pamphlets. Josh and Pete had wandered off somewhere, but would probably be back soon. And that girl was *still* trying to get Berto's attention. Finally Mindy couldn't keep her mouth shut about it anymore. "Oh, I can't stand this," she said and got up. She walked over to Berto and whacked him on the shoulder.  
  
Berto fumbled the pamphlets and looked up to see Mindy glaring down at him. "What?"  
  
"You know nothing about women, do you?" she asked bluntly.  
  
"Huh?" asked a now thoroughly confused Berto.  
  
"That redhead over there has been making eyes at you for the last 20 minutes."  
  
Startled, Betro looked over to where she was pointing. The girl she was pointing at waved and gave him a flirtacious smile. Not knowing how to react, he looked back at Mindy. "Are you interested in her?" she asked.  
  
"Um, I don't know." He took in the girl's skimpy clothes and overly confident heir.  
  
"You don't know?"  
  
"She's good looking, I guess, but she looks kind of full of herself."  
  
"You know," she said slowly, "you should *really* pay more attention to what's going on around you. If you did, you might notice how many girls find you attractive." She turned and went back to her own table, leaving behind a very shocked Berto Martinez.  
  
Girls thought he was *attractive*? Since when? He shifted in his seat. The sword necklace in his pocket poked him a little. He still had yet to give it to Mindy, not knowing how she would react if he did. One minute, she was sweet and child-like, the next she was blunt and annoying and could be a little harsh. For all he knew, if he gave her that necklace the same day he met her, she might think he was only after one thing. Then again, she might think it was really sweet. Or she might get upset that he had gone ahead and bought it for her when she had told him that she didn't like other people buying things for her. God, that girl was an enigma.  
  
  
  
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Okay people, you know the routine. Read and review. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though there were no big action sequences.  
  
Oh, and for Artemis fire mage of Golin, I'm 20. And actually I don't watch Max Steel regularly (sniff) because it's now on the cartoon network and I don't have cable right now. (Breaks down sobbing.) I know I'm too old for this, but I like it damnit! (Suddenly brightens) Anyway, now that that's out of my system, I would like to point out that you could've just looked up my pen name in the ff.net directory for that kind of info. But if you feel wierd for being near your teens and still watching cartoons, don't. To each their own. Besides, I was already in high school when the show came out. People thought I was weird. They still do. And you know what? They are correct. ;o] But, as you've probably noticed, that has nothing to do with the fact that I still love cartoons. 


	11. A Night On The Town

Disclaimer: I *wish* I owned Max Steel. And I don't own the song either.  
  
Stuff between ~ ~ is song lyrics   
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Well?"  
  
"She hasn't been alone all day," replied the man in the baseball cap. "There's always at least one N'Tek agent with her."  
  
"One N'Tek agent shouldn't be a problem," answered the voice harshly over the earpiece.  
  
"It's not only that, there are always too many people around. I'll keep following them, but I doubt there's going to be much of a chance to get her today. Besides, you said she's not an essential part of the plan."  
  
"No, she's not, but insurance would be nice. She's Steel's only cousin and like a niece to Smith. And I'd hate to be the one to have to explain to Dread why we have to proceed without the backup plan."  
  
"Alright, point taken. I'll keep trying, but no guarentee."  
  
  
  
  
After the fair and air show, Kat suggested going dancing. And Mindy and Laura thought it was a great idea, much to Josh's chargin. He wanted Mindy home and safe. However, resistance was futile. So, off they headed to a club that admitted people under 21. They couldn't go to the nightclub Kat had first suggested, since all of them except her were underage.   
  
Berto couldn't *believe* his day. How was it that he'd been talked into spending the day somewhere he didn't want to go in the first place and had now been talked into going out for what would probably be a late night at a dance club? Oh, yeah, Josh and Kat had ganged up on him. Why were they doing this to him? He'd tried to point out that he hadn't agreed to going anywhere other than the fair. When that didn't work, he'd tried pointing out that he couldn't dance to save his life. They didn't listen.  
  
Once inside, they managed to find a table they could all sit at. Josh had to grab a couple of chairs from other tables first, but it didn't take long to get settled. Not long after, Kat got asked to dance. Laura went out on the dance floor next. Mindy just prayed that someone would ask her to dance before Pete did. No such luck. Pete asked, and it was kind of hard to tell someone you didn't want to dance when they already knew how much you loved dancing. So she reluctantly went out on the dance floor with him, giving Josh a death glare when he stiffled a smile.  
  
"Now," said Berto the second he and Josh were alone at the table, "explain to me again why I *had* to come along tonight?"  
  
"I told you, I want her to be as safe as possible today."  
  
"Then you should've made her call it a night."  
  
"Couldn't. Kat mentioned dancing."  
  
"So?"  
  
"That's pretty much her favorite activity. Believe me, if I thought I could have talked her into going home, I would have tried."  
  
"She doesn't look like she's enjoying herself," said Berto, looking over to where she and Pete were dancing.  
  
"That's because she's dancing with Pete. He's been after her since she got here and she doesn't want anything to do with him like that. I just hope he get's that she's *not* playing hard to get soon, or he may get hurt."  
  
As soon as the song ended, Mindy headed back to the table before Pete could ask her for another dance. All these other girls, one of whom might actually like him, and he's still going after me. Oh, yeah, *this* is fair, she thought. Luckily, a girl asked him to dance before he could follow her all the way back to the table. Mindy breathed a sigh of relief as she plopped down into her chair. Maybe he would decide it was too much trouble to pursue her and stick with one of the girls he would meet tonight.  
  
"Having fun?" asked Josh.  
  
"Not yet, but the night is young." Glancing through the crowd, something caught her eye. It looked like a baseball cap. She tensed and looked again, but it was gone. Could it be that guy from the fair? She had spotted him several times today. Was he following them? She looked down at the pin Max had given her. Since she wasn't sure she'd actually seen the guy and he really hadn't done anything, she refrained from activating it.   
  
When everyone was back at the table, except Kat and Pete, a slow song came on. Josh swallowed painfully as he recognized it. It was I Don't Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith. His and Laura's song. He stole a look at Laura. She was looking out at the dance floor. Josh wondered if she would want to dance with him.  
  
Mindy cleared her throat. When Josh looked at her, her eyes darted to Laura then back to him. She gave him a meaningful look. He hesitated. A small grunt of pain escaped his lips when she kicked him under the table. He stood and asked Laura to dance and she went willingly onto the dance floor with him.  
  
Berto cleared his throat to get her to look at him. "Is there some reason you have been trying to set them up all day?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And that would be...?"  
  
"Because I want them to be happy. And the happiest I've ever seen them was when they were together. Is it that obvious what I'm doing?"  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
"Well, subtlty was never one of my virtues. I should really work on that," she said with a smile. "Of course, you probably already knew that since Josh has, no doubt, told you every single detail about me."  
  
"Well, I don't know about *every* detail," said Berto. "Just enough so that everyone at work has been wondering what's so great about his cousin for him to adore her so much."  
  
Mindy's cheeks reddened slightly. "What, *exactly*, has he told you?"  
  
"A lot of interesting things. I have some questions about some of it."  
  
"What do you want to know?"  
  
"Well, first off, did you really break Pete's nose?"  
  
"I did," she admitted with a hint of shame in her voice. "But he deserved it. He tripped me into a fountain in the middle of the mall. I might have over-reacted a little, but he's never tried to pull something like that on me, or anyone else, ever again."  
  
He let out a laugh. "Kind of ironic, don't you think," he commented, "that he's now got a crush on you."  
  
"I guess. However, ironic is not the word I would use to describe it."  
  
"Do I even want to know how you would describe it?"  
  
"Probably not. What else do you want to know?"  
  
  
  
  
~ I could stay awake just to hear you breathing ~ Watch you smile while you are sleeping ~  
~ While you're far away and dreaming ~ I could spend my life in this sweet surrender ~  
~ I could stay lost in this moment forever ~ Well, every moment spent with you ~  
~ Is a moment I treasure ~  
  
  
Josh couldn't help but think how perfectly that described his feelings for Laura. How many times had they danced to this song before the incident with Rachel? How long did he take it for granted that they would always be together? He remembered that they had promised to never dance with anyone else when this song played. He'd kept his end of that bargin. Had she?  
  
It was strange to be dancing in his arms again. They weren't dancing like they used to, holding each other like they never wanted to let go. There was a respectful amount of distance between them. Still, it felt wierd. She remembered a promise they had made a long time ago. She'd kept the promise, even though it was pretty much voided the day he cheated on her. It just didn't feel right to dance with someone else while their old song played, even if they weren't together anymore.   
  
~ I don't wanna close my eyes ~ I don't wanna fall asleep ~  
~ 'Cause I'd miss you, baby ~ And I don't want to miss a thing ~  
~ 'Cause even when I dream of you ~ The sweetest dream would never do ~  
~ I'd still miss you, baby ~ And I don't want to miss a thing ~  
  
  
Somehow, Laura ended up with her head leaning against his shoulder. His cheek rested on her hair. Neither one knew it, but they were both fighting back tears.   
  
  
  
  
Berto burst out laughing. "Are you serious?" he managed to ask.  
  
"Oh, yeah. He was the *worst* snowboarder Del Oro has ever seen when he first started. He may be an expert now, but I will never forget that first time he tried it. And that poor fence Uncle Jeff had to pay for. Ugh."  
  
"And here I thought he was a natural at any sport there is."  
  
"Most of them, yeah. But there's always an exception. In Josh's case, snowboarding."  
  
"Excuse me," said a voice from behind Berto. He turned to see an attractive girl about his age looking down at him. "I was just wondering if you knew what time it is." She batted her eyelashes.  
  
Mindy rolled her eyes. "Hello, Nalani," she said in a tone full of measured politness.  
  
The girl glanced up. "Oh, Mindy. What a pleasant surprise." There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I didn't know you were back in Del Oro. Visiting your cousin?"  
  
"Among other things." Mindy debated telling her that she was moving back, but decided it would be more fun to see the shock on her arrogant face when she showed up at the university. Mindy was certain Nalani went there, despite the fact that the girl was a moron. Her father had connections and a lot of money, after all, as she just *loved* to point out to people. Something that had never impressed the McGraths.  
  
Nalani turned her attention back to Berto. She flirted shamelessly. Mindy suspected that she had been recognized earlier and that Nalani had come over here with the sole purpose of taking Berto's attention away from her. She wasn't jealous or anything, just irritated.   
  
"Um, excuse me," said Berto, "but, I was having a converstion with Mindy."  
  
"Oh," she answered, glancing at Mindy. "Do you want to dance?" she asked, turning back to him.  
  
Berto looked at her like she had grown a second head. He'd thought his hint had been clear.  
  
"Ahem. I think what my friend here is trying to say is, we were having a private conversation." She emphasized the word private. "And for us to continue to do that, you would have to go somewhere that is *not* here. You know, as in away." Mindy maintained a mask of politness as she said this. She maintained the expression even when Nalani glared at her.   
  
Berto was impressed. Most people would have gotten upset by now. Mindy had kept a cool head, though it was obvious that she and this girl were not friends. He had a feeling that this rivalry they seemed to have went *way* back.   
  
"Well, when you're ready for some actual fun," she handed Berto a slip of paper, "give me a call." She walked away, making sure to swing her hips. Mindy was disgusted.  
  
"Who the heck was *that*?" asked Berto.   
  
"Del Oro's finest," she answered sarcastically. "A.K.A: rich snob who happens to hate me."  
  
"Why does she hate you?"  
  
"I don't know. I've never done anything to her. I guess she could hate me now because I wouldn't take her shit. I know her older brother hates Josh because Josh is better at everything than he is. Her, though... She could never stand the fact that I always had guys around me even though I was a tomboy and she was a child beauty contest winner. Most of those guys weren't the least bit interested in being more than friends, but she was too thick to notice that."  
  
"She was jealous, huh?"  
  
"Basically. Something else that always got to her was that her dad is rich and my family was always as broke as a two dollar watch. But since my uncle is one of the head honchos at N'Tek, me and Josh always got the latest sports equipment before it was even released to the public. Months ahead sometimes. She always had to be the first to have or do anything. I don't know what she was complaining about, she's always hated sports. And she sucks at them, too."  
  
"Well, I won't be needing this." He crumpled the paper Nalani had given him and sat it on the table. Even if Mindy hadn't told him what that girl was like, he wouldn't have called.  
  
Nalani watched from a distance. Her eyes widened as she saw Berto crumple the paper she had given him. Then her eyes narrowed. Didn't he know who she was? *No one* had ever turned her down like that before. Not only had she written down her number, she had given him her address, too, with a note that suggested he stop by and see her sometime. Her blood boiled. How could *Mindy McGrath*, the biggest tomboy Del Oro had ever seen, possibly get the attention of so many guys? Nalani wasn't blind. She saw how many guys looked at Mindy and obviously liked what they saw. She just didn't get it. Mindy was wearing only a little make-up, she wasn't showing much skin at all, and to top it all off, she was a freaking plus size! How could guys like her? Oh, well. Mindy might be oblivious to all the guys checking her out, but she seemed to be interested in the nerdy-looking, but cute, guy she was sitting with. Nalani was going to get him first. No matter what.  
  
"Hey," said Josh as he and Laura came back to the table. "Was that Nalani Worthington that was just over here?"  
  
"Unfortunatly," replied Mindy.  
  
"What did *she* want?" asked Laura distastfully.  
  
"She saw me talking to a guy and decided to come over and steal his attention away. By the way," she said turning back to Berto, "if she thinks we're interested in each other, she's going to go for the kill. I'd avoid her if I were you."  
  
"Not a problem." He had spotted her out on the dance floor dancing like a stripper with some guy she'd probably just met. No way was he going near a girl like that. Especially if she gave her address to any guy who caught her eye. Who knew where she had been?  
  
When everyone was sitting at the table, Mindy and Josh went to the bar and grabbed some sodas for everyone. Just as they were setting them down at the table, Nalani "accidentaly" bumped into Mindy from behind. Just hard enough to cause the soda she was holding to slosh all over her shirt. Mindy turned her blazing eyes to Nalani, who was walking away with a small smirk on her face. "Ooh, that girl is just asking for it," she said, dabbing at her shirt with a napkin. Well, better just her shirt than her pants. Mindy picked up her mini back-pack and headed for the ladies room. Kat and Laura followed.  
  
"What was that bitch's problem?" asked Kat.   
  
"She hates me because I used to have a lot of guy friends and I wouldn't fall for her "Do you know who I am?" crap. She hates Laura because she's always had a thing for Josh and Laura got him first. She probably hates you for the simple fact that you're hanging out with us," answered Mindy. "And to top it off, she's got her eyes on Berto, but when she hit on him, he told her he was talking to me."  
  
"If she touches Berto, she is dead," stated Kat. Then she looked on, surprised, as Mindy pulled a tank top out of her back pack and changed into it. "You carry an extra shirt?"  
  
"Well, I was afraid I might spill something on the other one by accident. I do that a lot."  
  
As they walked back to the table, each girl was asked to dance at least once. When they got back, Josh stared at her new shirt and Nalani fumed at her own table. The shirt was black with smokey gray swirls going across it. It had silver glitter on it and hugged her figure more than the last shirt had. If it had been just a little looser, Josh wouldn't have minded as much, but it emphasized her hourglass figure and was drawing more attention from guys than he would have liked. At least she wasn't showing cleavage. "Where did that come from?" he asked.  
  
"Always carry a spare," said Mindy.  
  
Just then a familiar song came through the speakers. Footloose. They were all a little surprised since it was a pretty old song. But it was one of Mindy's favorites. She looked at Josh with puppy-dog eyes. The last thing he wanted was for her to work up a sweat in that shirt, but he would have an easier time fighting Psycho than that look she was giving him. He sighed in defeat. "Alright," he said. They went out on the dance floor.  
  
Laura smiled. She remembered how Mindy had driven them crazy with this song and the movie. That was when Mindy had decided she wanted to be a dancer. None of them had argued with her because she was such a natural at it. She had often made Josh dance with her for practise, which had made him a pretty good dancer himself.   
  
Nalani absolutly seethed as the crowd almost imeadiately formed a circle around Josh and Mindy. Determined to prove she was a better dancer, she grabbed a guy and headed out on the floor. To her dismay, people still watched the McGraths, even though she was wearing an eye-popping outfit and was doing all kinds of sexy moves. This wasn't fair! What infuriated her even more was that, despite the fact that she was dancing practically right in front of him, the guy with glasses was still watching Mindy and was obviously impressed with her skill.  
  
Shortly after Nalani went out on the dance floor, Pete and Laura joined Josh and Mindy. Dancing was something Pete was actually good at. The four made a very impressive team.  
When the song ended, almost everyone appluaded. Josh and Pete both bowed. Laura and Mindy started to walk away, but the boys made them take a bow as well. Both girls were a little embarrased by the catcalls and whistles that accompanied them as they left the dance floor. The look Nalani was giving them was not lost on them. None of them could help feeling just a little smug, even Pete. Nalani was one of the few girls in town that even he wouldn't touch.   
  
"Josh, you didn't tell us you could dance," scolded Kat.  
  
"You never asked."  
  
"And you," She said, turning to Mindy, "where did you learn to dance like that?"  
  
"I had a couple of lessons when I was younger. Mostly learned from watching other people."  
  
"Only a couple of lessons? And you're that good?"  
  
Mindy blushed. "I'm not that good," she insisted. "I would have taken more lessons, but money was kind of tight, so... Besides, the dance workouts I do are good enough for me." A flash of red caught her eye then. She looked over and saw the guy from the fair. He dissapeared quickly, but she was sure it was him. And he had been watching her again. This couldn't be a coincidence. "Excuse me," she said, abruptly standing and heading for the restrooms. As she went in she saw that her pursuer was discretly following her. Trying not to panic, she reached for the pin Max had given her. Her fingers felt only her shirt.   
  
She did panic then. Where was it? Had she lost it on the dance floor somewhere? No, wait. She had left it on her other shirt. She pulled the still damp, folded as small as possible shirt out of her pack. Carefully she removed the pin and went into one of the stalls, away from the other women. Mindy activated the signal.  
  
  
  
  
Josh heard the signal through his bio-link. He quickly excused himself from everyone and went out into the alley behind the club. After making sure he was alone, he changed into Max and slipped back inside. He headed to the restrooms, knowing that's where Mindy was. There were two guys waiting outside the ladies room. One of them might be waiting for Mindy. He amplified his sight and looked carefully at them. One of them had what appeared to be a hearing aid.   
  
"Max?" The voice almost made him jump. "Max, are you there? What am I doing? You probably can't talk to me through this thing anyway. If you can hear me, I think there's a guy following me. He's wearing a red baseball hat and I've been seeing him all day. I'm not sure he's one of the guys you said were after me, but I don't have a good feeling about him."  
  
The guy with the "hearing aid" had a red cap on. Upon closer examination, Max could see that was no hearing aid. Before he even knew what hit him, Max had dragged the guy outside. Once he started to register what had happened, he looked at his attacker. "Steel," he growled.  
  
He rushed him, but Max knocked him out quickly. He looked at the guy, who was now laying in a pile of trash bags. What kind of idiot wore bright, flashy colors when they were tailing someone? Anyone who did that was just *begging* to be caught. Max used his bio-link to call for the guy to be picked up. Impatiently, he waited for help to arrive. He wanted to let Mindy know that the situation was taken care of. He realized he had spotted this guy several times at the fair, but hadn't thought much of it. He felt like such an ass. He should have paid more attention. This guy could've taken off with Mindy because he wasn't being cautios enough.   
  
  
  
After a few minutes, Mindy ventured out of the bathroom. Her stalker was gone. Quickly, she went back to the table. The first thing she noticed was Josh wasn't there. She guessed he was in the bathroom. Kat and Pete were missing, too. "Hey," she said. "Where is everyone?"   
  
"I have no idea where Josh went, but..." Laura pointed to where Kat and Pete were dancing.  
  
When the song ended, another slow song came on. Pete noticed Mindy sitting down and started to make his way over. Mindy saw him coming and quickly turned to Berto. "Do you want to dance?"  
  
"Oh, no thanks. I can't really-" Mindy cut him off by abruptly grabbing his arm and dragging him out on the dance floor. "No, Mindy, really. I can't dance very well."  
  
"It's not so hard. Look, just put your hand on my waist." She moved his hand to her waist. "Now, take my other hand. Yeah, like that. And you're all set." Berto started to move, a bit akwardly, to the music. Nervously, he watched his feet. "No, if you look at your feet the whole time, you might get thrown off. Look at my face. And relax." Reluctantly, he obeyed. "See, you're doing fine," she told him a moment later. Surprised, Berto realized that he hadn't stepped on her even once, and it was more than a minute into the song.  
  
Nalani watched them dancing. "Can you *believe* that slut?" she asked one of her friends. "Look at the way she's throwing herself at him." Her friends nodded in agreement, even though Mindy wasn't throwing herself at him at all. "She is just so wrong for him." Max walked back in and went past them, stopping a few feet away to scan the crowd for his friends. "Oh, maybe this night can be salvaged after all," said Nalani, eyeing him up and down. She started toward him, but he moved over to the table where Laura was sitting. He spoke to her for a moment, then Laura pointed to where Mindy and Berto were dancing. Max thanked her and went over to them.  
  
"May I cut in?" he asked. Berto nodded, somewhat dissapointed. He had been doing so well.  
  
"Well, at least we know the transmitter works," said Mindy as they began to dance.  
  
"Of course it does. You know, being able to talk to you through it isn't such a bad idea. Just so you know, I took care of that guy who was tailing you. You were right, he was after you."  
  
She let out a shakey breath. "I'm not completely safe anywhere, am I?"  
  
He shook his head. "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you Mindy. We still don't know for sure what they want you for, but we're working on it."   
  
Nalani watched, eyes blazing. If looks could kill, Mindy would have dropped dead a while ago. It wasn't fair! What was it about her that attracted guys? After the song ended, Max headed back the way he had come. Nalani tried to catch his eye, but he walked right past her and out the door. She couldn't believe it! Two guys had rejected her tonight! For Mindy McGrath to top it all off! What was the world coming to?!   
  
  
  
  
  
Laura was pretty quiet as Josh drove her and Pete home. Max had showed up looking for Mindy earlier. It was kind of wierd that Josh was never around when Max was. *Really* weird, actually. Once he had talked to Mindy, he had left. Then Josh had come back, saying he'd been getting some fresh air. She was starting to see what Mindy was talking about. They were a bit alike. A brief, totally insane thought crossed her mind. What if...?  
  
She nearly laughed out loud. That was just stupid! More than stupid, it was completey ludicrous! Max and Josh being the same person. How dumb could you get?  
  
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Whew! Long chapter.  
  
Okay, I just *had* to do that. I mean, come on. If you were in Laura's position would you want to believe something like that? Come on, tell the truth. I felt Mindy needed her own enemies, not just Max's. And just for the record, I have nothing against plus sizes. I am one myself. In fact, most women are and just don't know it. If you wear a size 9 or up, you are a plus size. And plus size does not mean fat, as most people believe. I'd like to thank the people who voted on a song. Thank you for your help. And then there's one person, who can pucker up and kiss it. o\/o It's not like you have exclusive rights to that song *honey*. I almost used the song just because she told me not to. But I felt that would be unfair to those who have been so supportive of my story and were nice enough to vote. I did, however, count it as a vote for that song. Be warned, I don't take kindly to people telling me what I can and can't do. Having you guys vote to help me out is one thing, being told "I already used it so you can't" is another thing entirely. Now, the reason I *did* use the song was this. I had a tie between it and From This Moment On. Since it's been almost a month, I read the votes looking for a tie-breaker instead of waiting longer. Only one person gave me a reason why they wanted the song they voted for and it was a good reason. So, that is the song I used. Now there wouldn't have been a tie if someone hadn't told me to find a different song, so if you don't like the song I used, you can thank her for it.   
  
Rhiannon Faylinn 


	12. Dream About You

Disclaimer: If I owned Max Steel, my pocket wouldn't be as shallow as I mentioned it is.  
  
A/N: Okay, the rating has been upped. I really don't think it's bad enough for an R rating, but I wanted to be on the safe side. The dream scene isn't exactly lemon, but I still wouldn't recomend it for anyone who is too young or too immature to handle it. And right after that, there are some mentionings of the way nature works that I would recomend skipping if you are one of those people.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Psycho pounded a table in frusteration. It splintered to pieces. That incompetant fool! The beginning of a fight with Steel had been heard through the transmitter just before contact was broken. There was no doubt that the agent they had ordered to follow Steel's cousin was in custody.   
  
"Well, if you want something done," he growled, " you've got to do it yourself."  
  
  
  
  
Josh stayed awake long after Mindy went to bed. That had been too close for his liking. This was the second attempt at kidnapping Mindy. It wouldn't be the last time they tried it either. He was sure of that. Josh considered it lucky that he had been able to save her both times. He couldn't be lucky all the time. He debated finding some excuse to send her out of Del Oro, but knew it was pointless. Mindy was not someone who could be made to do something she didn't want to do. Besides, if Dread thought it was worth it to kidnapp her, he would go across the country to do. And it would be a lot harder for Max Steel to protect her if she was 3,000 miles away.  
  
Ironic. Her coming to Del Oro was what had started this whole mess. Now, the only way he could protect her was for her to stay.  
  
  
  
  
(A/N: WARNING!!! This is that scene I mentioned. If you don't want to read it, or are too young or immature to be reading it, please skip the next few paragraphs.)  
  
The inner thigh of her right leg brushed slowly up his outer thigh as he knelt over her. Even with two layers of clothing still between them, the action caused him to shudder. She ran a finger slowly down his chest. Such a simple action, that touch, but it caused his heart to thump at an unthinkable rate. He watched her bring her finger away from him and to her mouth, tasting him.  
  
He let his eyes roam over the woman lying beneath him. She was still fully clothed. He, on the other hand, had discarded his shirt. Her dark hair contrasted with the pillow and sheets of his bed. Oh, but she was beautiful, staring up at him with heat and desire in her eyes.  
  
Her hips tilted upward and met his. He groaned and returned the favor, grinding his own hips into hers. Her head fell back on the pillow and she moaned softly. One of her hands slowly travelled up his arm. Gently, she caressed his bicep. As she did this, she raised her head to lightly brush her lips against his, so lightly he could barely feel it. Her hand continued up, slid over his shoulder and came to a rest on the back of his neck. Slowly, she pulled him closer. Their cheeks brushed when she brought her lips close to his ear and whispered his name.  
  
Berto bolted into a sitting position. His breathing was ragged. He could feel the dampness of sweat on his face and chest. It took him a second to realize what had happened. He had been dreaming.  
  
He hesitated before lifting the sheets and looking down. At least the bed wasn't wet. However, the evidence of how much that dream had affected him was clearly visable. Had that dream gotten any further, he knew he would have found himself in an embarassing situation.  
  
Dropping the sheet, he flopped back on the bed. It had been a while since he'd had a dream like that. And this one had been so vivid.  
  
Berto's eyes wandered over the small room he occupied at N'Tek. He wasn't the only agent who resided in the building, but the others went out. They had lives. His gaze fell upon the necklace on the night stand. He'd never gotten the nerve to give it to Mindy tonight.  
  
Taking a deep breath, he tried to push her out of his mind. Maybe Kat and Max were right. If only one day out had affected him like this, then maybe he *had* been cooped up too long.  
  
"I got to get out more," he mumbled, shoving a hand through his hair.  
  
What really bothered him wasn't the dream itself. He was a healthy young man, after all. They were normal. Embarassing, but normal. It was the woman *in* the dream that bothered him. It was insane. He barely knew her. And it would be suicide, pure and simple, should he ever allow Max to find out about it.  
  
He rolled over and punched his pillow. His rational side told him he needed his sleep. Tomorrow, they still had to figure out what Dread was up to. But he was afraid he might dream again. Reluctantly, he closed his eyes and started to drift off, just praying Mindy wouldn't be there this time.  
  
  
  
  
Mindy slowly opened her eyes. She rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. That sedative she had taken to go to sleep last night had done it's job. In fact, she was still drowsey. She hoped to not run into Josh until she had a chance to clean up a little. He loved to tease her about how she looked when she first woke up in the morning. She knew she was no beauty queen, but Josh had made it clear that in the morning she was just plain scary. In more ways than one if she was in a mood.  
  
Lucky for her, she didn't see Josh until she went into the kitchen. Mumbling a greeting to him, she went straight for the coffee. Quickly, she downed half of the mug, hoping he wouldn't see that she was still tired even though she'd slept in. Then she moved to the fridge for some of the flavored creamer she had bought.  
  
Mindy drinking black coffee. That was a new one to him. Not to mention that it was almost 10:00am. Usually, she was up by 9:00 at the latest. Either she was *really* tired from yesterday, or she wasn't telling him something. Well, at least he'd convinced the other agents to keep him updated by his bio-link instead of having to go to the meetings so he could keep a closer watch on her.  
  
After she was sure her eyes were reasonably less bleary looking, she sat down at the table. The sedative was still affecting her, but not badly. At least she hadn't been plauged by nightmares last night, as she had since Max told her what was going on. She hadn't told Josh about them because she didn't want him to worry about her anymore than he already was. And she didn't feel good about it.   
  
"You sleep okay?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah. You?"  
  
"Fine," he lied. "I was thinking, since it's Sunday, we could go see that new James Bond movie. I know you've been dying to see it."  
  
"Sounds fun. Oh, wait. Laura and I were supposed to look at an apartment today."  
  
Josh almost spit out his coffee. "Huh?"  
  
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, didn't I?" she asked sheepishly.  
  
"Apparently."  
  
"Well," she began, "I need to find my own place so I don't have to live in the dorms, but can't afford it, right?" He nodded and she continued. "Laura had to enroll late because of that whole toxic waste thing and is lucky she even got accepted this late, so she can forget about a dorm, right? Well, I didn't want to get stuck with a roommate I don't know and she doesn't want to live with her parents all year. So we figured that we could solve both problems by sharing a place."  
  
Josh stared at her. Oh, terrific, he thought. If I want to see one, I'm gonna have to see the other, too. Other than that, it was actually a fairly good idea. "What time are you going?"  
  
"We're supposed to meet here at noon and then go."  
  
He looked through the paper for a second. "There's a showing at 1:15. I could go with you and we could all go see the movie after."   
  
She smiled a bit. "I know what this is about." At his quizzical look, she explained. "You don't want to let me out of your sight, because of the whole terrorist thing, but you know I don't want to be cooped up all the time. Thus, the movie. You also probably want to approve of where I want to live and, as an added bonus, you would get to spend some time with Laura. Correct me if I'm wrong."  
  
Josh started to protest. That hadn't exactly been his intention. But, now that she mentioned it, it *was* a pretty good deal. He didn't bother to correct her guess after that.  
  
  
  
  
"I will not have you simply barge into the house and kidnapp her," stated Dread. "To get her, you must first make sure Steel can't stop you." Psycho began to protest yet again. Dread cut him off. "No. We still have two days. You have enough time to come up with an effective plan and execute it. Only then, will you collect our insurance. Have I made myself clear?"  
  
Grudgingly, Psycho nodded. A plan huh?  
  
  
  
  
Mindy had called Laura and warned her that Josh would be accompanying them and asked if she wanted to see the movie with them. She had agreed to it.  
  
Josh had gone through his closet several times, looking for something to wear. At about half past 11:00, Mindy had threatened to slap the crap out of him if he didn't calm down. She then proceeded to pick an outfit for him. He would have argued, but the look she gave him shut him up. Actually, what she picked wasn't bad. Instead of his usual jeans and t-shirt, she tossed him a pair of black trousers and a long-sleeve button up shirt. The shirt was loose and made of silk. She assured him that the dark green color would look good on him and shoved him into the bathroom to get ready.  
  
As he showered and dressed, he wondered where he'd even gotten the shirt. He didn't remember buying it. After a while, he remembered that it had been a gift from Laura when they had graduated high school. Was that really only a few years ago? It seemed more like a lifetime.   
  
When Laura got there, Mindy let her in. "Josh is still in the bathroom," she explained. "And men say *we* take too long to get ready."  
  
Five minutes later, Josh came downstairs. Laura turned, took one look at him and swallowed her heart, which had somehow made it's way into her throat. *Damn!* It should be a crime to look that good, she decided.  
  
Josh looked Laura up and down. A black, ankle lenghth skirt with a slit that went up to her thigh and a hunter green tank top. He managed to close his mouth to keep the drool from flooding the carpet.   
  
"Hey, you guys match!" pointed out Mindy. She was trying to keep her amusement in check. The looks on their faces were priceless.  
  
Laura cleared her throat. "Ready?" she asked him.  
  
He nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment. When she turned toward the door, he caught a teasing glimpse of shapley leg. Today was going to be toture, he realized. And he had no one to blame for it but himself for insisting on going along. Once the girls were outside, he let out a deep sigh, grabbed his keys, and headed out after them.  
  
He didn't see Laura's bike anywhere in the front. When he asked her about it, she replied, "I took a cab."  
  
He should have figured as much. That skirt wasn't exactly the best thing to be riding a motorcycle in. He opened the car door for Laura and closed it behind her before going to the driver's side. Mindy supressed the giggle that was climbing up her throat at his actions before vaulting over the side and landing in the back seat. Who says chivalry is dead? she thought. It's not dead, it's just on the verge of extinction.  
  
"Easy on the upholstery," warned Josh.   
  
"You do it all the time," she retorted.  
  
"It's my car."  
  
  
  
  
The day passed uneventfully for the three friends. For Psycho, however, it was another story. He needed a plan and he needed it now. He formed plans and then rejected them as he realized their flaws. Briefly, he considered using an EMP to disable Steel and grab Mindy, but realized it would also shut his arm and face down. Maybe he could set up some kind of situation across town that Steel would have to help with and leave Mindy at the house. No, Steel would never leave her unprotected and would probably guess what they were up to. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed they couldn't go to Steel's cousin. She would have to come to them. Now, how to make that happen?  
  
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I'll get the next part out as soon as I can, I promise. Thank you for reading!   
  
Rhiannon Faylinn 


	13. Lured Out

Disclaimer: I still don't own Max Steel. (Sigh)  
  
A/N: I'm sorry if anyone was offended or bothered by the last chapter, but I did warn you.   
  
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"Well?" asked Josh later that night in the confines of his bedroom. "Have you found anything out yet?"  
  
"As far as what they're planning, nothing. I'm sorry, hermano. Apparently, Dread is only giving out need to know information about his plan, even to his goons. Our mole has almost nothing. He can't even give us the exact location of the base, since they blindfolded him when they took hi there, just in case. But he did overhear Dread and Psycho talking about something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"He said that Dread said something about Psycho not barging in and kidnapping her. To get her they had to make sure you couldn't stop them. He had to come up with a plan before collecting the insurance."  
  
"What were they talking about?"  
  
"He's not sure. That's all he heard."  
  
"Make sure I can't stop them?" The realization hit him then. "Mindy."  
  
"That would be my guess, hermano."  
  
"So that's why they want her so bad. They want something to hang over my head so I won't interfere in whatever their plan is. Not very original, but effective."  
  
"Pretty much."  
  
"So, they'll probably go with the usual try to lure me away and kidnapp her routine."  
  
"If Psycho's in charge, it's quite possible."  
  
"Terrific." He sighed. "You are so lucky to not have my life, bro."  
  
"Oh, I don't know about that. Being me isn't always fun either," Berto told him, thinking about the restless night he'd had. Every time he got to sleep, that dream was there. And he always woke up, covered in sweat and shaking like a leaf, at the same place. He'd spent the better part of the night torn between wanting the dream to go away and wanting to see what happened next. Finally, he'd given up on sleep all together and downed about an entire pot of coffee just so he wouldn't have to dream again. He didn't know what he was going to do about tonight, but he tried not to think about it.   
  
"That may be true, but at least you aren't two different people with seperate lives, one of which is constantly making the other one miserable."  
  
"There you've got me."  
  
  
  
  
It was a little past midnight. Mindy was wide awake. She wasn't sure if it was the extra hours of sleep she had gotten, courtesy of the sedative, or her fear of the nightmares that grew steadily worse each night that kept her awake now. Silently, she wished she had someone to talk to or at least something to do. Josh was probably sleeping like a baby by now and she was reluctant to wake him. So, instead, she sat in a chair with her knees drawn up to her chest, looking out the window.  
  
The moon was almost full now. The light it cast reflected off of the waves, giving the water an eerie glow. It was tempting to go out and have a swim, but she knew that sharks would be feeding at this time of night. Besides, the water would be freezing and Josh would kill her for doing something so foolish. Instead, she had to content herself with watching the waves.  
  
A whining sound caught her attention. She turned her gaze to the sidwalk in front of the house and saw a shaggy dog. It was limping badly and whining pitifully. Instantly, her heart went out to the animal. She stood and headed for the door, but something stopped her. She hesitated. She had a really bad feeling all of a sudden. It would be unwise to go outside when there may be people out there who would welcome the chance to abduct her. The dog whined again. She looked around the room. There was no way she would just leave an injured animal out on the street to fend for itself. But taking a little something outside with her for protection wouldn't be such a bad idea.   
  
Thinking quickly, she picked up the pin Max had given her. If she wore it on her sleep clothes, it would look suspicious. After a moment's thought, she snatched up a dark blue schrunchy from the nightstand, slipped it around her wrist and pinned the transmitter to it. It was well hidden against the dark color. After that, she went over to the closet. It only took a few seconds to locate what she was looking for. It was a mini baseball bat that was about a foot long. A souvenir from a baseball game they had gone to when she was around 12. She didn't think Josh would mind if she borrowed it for self-defense. She slipped it into the waistband of her shorts and underneath her shirt.  
  
Psycho smirked from his hiding place as Mindy exited the house. He'd known an injured animal would be the perfect bait. And her being awake at this hour, sitting at the window no less, had made it easier to set his plan into action. That was the only helpful thing that idiot he had assigned to follow Mindy at the fair had told them. Mindy had an affinity for animals and had spent quite some time in the temporary petting zoo that had been set up. Her cousin and friends had to practically drag her away from it. This was just too easy.   
  
The dog whimpered and backed away as Mindy approached. He was afraid of humans. Humans did mean things to him. Like that awful man who had hurt his leg. Stll, this human seemed harmless enough, reaching out and speaking soothingly to him. Cautiously, he approached. Reluctantly, he allowed her to scratch him behind the ears. After a few seconds, he decided that this human was alright.   
  
Mindy very carefully examined the dog's leg. It whimpered as she lifted the leg as gently as she could for a closer look. Suddenly, the dog started to panic and back away. She started to sooth it again. Then she realized it wasn't afraid of her, but something behind her.   
  
The Dread soldier was surprised when the girl turned around before he could grab her. He was even more surprised when she dodged his hand and knocked the chloroform soaked rag away from her and out of his grip. He lunged at her. She sidestepped him. Before he could turn and make another grab, she cold cocked him, thanking whatever god had let him not be wearing a helmet.  
  
Psycho rolled his eyes.Why did he even bother sending these boys to do a man's job? He stepped out of the shadows.  
  
The second Mindy saw the freak from the ice rink, she made a mad dash for the house. She may have been able to beat up most of the other terrorists who'd been after her, but she wasn't dumb enough to try and fight this guy. Even Max had a hard time handling him, so there was no way *she* could beat him.  
  
Another Dread soldier managed to grab her as she ran for the door. He covered her mouth instantly to muffle her voice as she tried to scream. She bit down on his hand. He yelped as he felt the bite right through his glove. She drove her elbow into his stomach and then stomped on his foot. She would've gouged at his eyes, but this one was actually wearing a helmet. He lost his grip on her and she turned around and kneed him as hard as she could. He fell to the ground in shock and passed out from the pain.  
  
Psycho was almost upon her. She turned and tried to make it into the house again, but it was futile. He grabbed one of her arms from behind and started to drag her backwards off the porch. Mindy whipped out the bat, turned, and struck him across the face.  
  
Now, despite the fight he'd had with Max at the ice rink, Psycho's mask had stayed on the entire time Mindy had seen him. Now, it flew off as she struck him, quite by accident, in just the right way. As the mask went flying, Mindy stared up at him, horrorstruck by what she saw. Her shock only lasted a split second. Then she did what any sensible girl would do in her position. She *freaked!*   
  
Psycho covered her mouth, effectivly muffling the screams that were rising from her throat and ripped the bat away.. He signaled to some of the other soldiers via a radio. They hurried to play their part in the plan. He began dragging her toward the street.   
  
Mindy struggled vainly against her captor. He was much too strong for her. However, her wriggling was making it very hard to keep a firm grip on her. He shifted to get a better hold. She took the opportunity and barely managed to yank his hand away from her mouth just long enough to scream for her cousin.  
  
"Shit," snarled Psycho. She was making too much noise.   
  
A van pulled up in front of the house and two more Dread soldiers leapt out of it. Quickly, they ran to the door and stood on either side of it. A few seconds later, Josh came barreling out. The Dread soldiers jumped him from either side, catching him off guard. He saw Psycho shoving a still fighting and screaming Mindy into the back of a van. He fought off his attackers as fast as he could. It wasn't fast enough. The van took off.  
  
Lights were coming on in some of the neighboring houses. Josh didn't care. He started chasing the van on foot. Josh could run very fast, even without his powers, but the van was pulling steadily away from him. "Going turbo," he said, hitting the button on his bio-link. At this point, he didn't give a damn if someone saw him glowing. The only thing he cared about was the fact that Psycho was getting away and he was taking Mindy with him.  
  
Mindy watched desperatly through the back windows of the van as Josh grew further and further away. If it hadn't been for the street lights, she would have seen his body glowing a strange yellowish color. As the van made a sharp turn, just before she was thrown to the side, she saw Josh stop running as he realized he would never catch up. She fought back tears. Her shoulder had connected, rather forcefully, with the side of the van, but that wasn't the reason she wanted to cry. Never in her life had she been so terrified.  
  
Josh stared after the van. He was still in shock. How had they gotten their hands on her? He would have heard them if someone broke into his house. Surely Mindy wasn't stupid enough to have been outside. Not unless they had found a way to lure her out. Finally, he recovered and hit another button on his bio-link.   
  
Berto was surprised to be hearing from Josh at this hour. "Hermano? What is it?"  
  
"Assemble the team," he said.  
  
"What? Josh, it's the middle of the night. What's so impor-" He never got to finish the question.  
  
"They have her, Berto. Dread's got Mindy."  
  
Berto didn't hesitate in alerting the others after that.  
  
Josh went back to the house and grabbed his keys. He climbed in the car and was about to start it when a sound caught his ear. It didn't take long to determine that the sound was coming from under the car. He climbed out and peered curiously underneath it. There he found a shaggy dog whining and looking extremely frightened. He sighed. As much as he wanted to take off for N'Tek, he didn't want to run over the dog. It took a few minutes of coaxing, but finally the dog came out. He didn't know how it had fit under the car in the first place, as it was a fairly large animal. He got back in the car and the dog started to limp away.  
  
Wait a second. He got back out and took a closer look at it's leg. He wasn't a vet, but somehow he got the feeling that it's injuries were deliberate. So that was how they had gotten Mindy out of the house. Without a second thought, he picked the animal up and put it in the car. Then he drove to headquarters.  
  
  
  
  
Everyone was fairly surprised when Max walked into the conference room with what looked like an english sheepdog in his arms.   
  
"Um, Max," asked Kat, pointing at the dog, "what's with the living carpet?"  
  
"He needs medical attention. I think his leg is broken. I thought Dr. Yevshenko could take care of him."  
  
Everyone stared at him in disbelief. "Max, your cousin was just abducted and you want to help a dog with a broken leg?" asked Rachel.   
  
"I think the dog had an unwilling hand in it," he explained, setting the dog on the table.  
  
They were about to question him further, but Jefferson Smith walked into the room. "Alright, how long ago did they take her?"  
  
"Less than half an hour," answered Max.  
  
"How did they get her?"  
  
"Well," started Max. He explained what he was fairly sure had happened. They had injured the dog, who Smith had finally noticed, and made sure Mindy had seen it outside. She had gone outside to help it, and they had attacked. Two soldiers had been left behind to buy Psycho and whoever was driving enough time to get away. "By the way, they're probably still laying on my doorstep," he finished.   
  
"Why didn't you bring the in or call for them to be picked up?" asked Rachel.  
  
"Well, gee, I'm sorry, I was a *little* preoccupied," he shot back. "Now, how are we going to get her back?"  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Mindy was now in a completely different vehicle. They had taken her clear across town and then switched to a different van. This one had the logo of a phone company on it's side. The freak with the metal grin was keeping a close watch on her, making sure she didn't try to jump out or anything.   
  
Well, at least now I know why Max called him Smiley, she thought.   
  
Max! She had *completely* forgotten about the transmitter. Trying to be as subtle as possible, she began fiddling with her scrunchy. She tried to make it look like it was just a nervous habit or something. She activated the pin.  
  
  
  
  
Max sat up straighter as he heard a signal through his bio-link. It took him a second to realize what it was. Then a small smile touched his face. Mindy had the transmitter he had given her and she was using it to call him. "Guys, I'm getting a signal from Mindy's transmitter."  
  
Everyone looked at him. "Are you sure?" asked Kat.  
  
He nodded, looking somewhat relieved. He abruptly stood. "I'm going to go and find her."  
  
"Wait," said Rachel, looking thoughtful. As Max paused, she continued. "If she is supposed to be their insurance plan, then it's more than likely that they will take her to their current base for safekeeping."  
  
"And that is relevent how?" asked Max. He didn't like where this was going.  
  
"Well, if we know where they are, we can surprise them."  
  
Max leaned forward. He had a threatening look on his face. "What are you saying, exactly?"  
  
He was not going to like this. "I think we should wait a few hours and then follow the signal to their base of operations."  
  
There was a short silence. Then Max exploded. "Have you lost your mind!?" Everyone jumped. "I'm not leaving her alone with them for any longer than I have to! Who knows what they have planned for her?!"  
  
"Max," said Rachel as calmly as she could, "I don't like the idea of leaving her at their mercy any more than you do, but this could be our only chance to strike at them before they can proceed with whatever their plan is."  
  
"Forget it!"  
  
"She's right Max."  
  
He turned, shocked, to Kat as she uttered the soft words. "Say that again."  
  
"Look, Max," she said, standing and laying a hand on his arm to calm him a little, "I like Mindy a lot. You know that. But, one girl's discomfort for a few hours balanced against how many lives if Dread has his way? It's not much of a choice."  
  
Max stared at her in disbelief. She couldn't be serious. He looked around the table. Everyone else seemed to agree with her. Finally, he turned to Smith. "Dad? It's Mindy. I can't just leave her there."  
  
Smith was silent for sometime. He loved Mindy very much. Leaving her with terrorists was the last thing he wanted to do. Unfortunatly, he also knew that the others were right. Forcing his own emotions into the back of his mind, he looked seriously at Max. "It may be the only chance we get."  
  
Max was dumbfounded. They couldn't seriously be ordering him to leave his baby cousin with Psycho. "Now, I *know* I'm not hearing this right. Are you agreeing with them?" At his father's silence, his heart sank into his shoes. He tried to remain calm and reason with them. "Did it ever occur to you people that they might find the transmitter and destroy it? Or that wherever they take her might be built like a fortress and the signal will be blocked? If that happens, we may not be able to find her at all. Another thing, Dread has been dying to cut me open to find out why I survived being intergrated with the Max probes. Mindy has a genitic link to me. He might decide to pump her full of the probes just to see if she lives, too. And if she does, he'll just run a thousand tests on her or worse to try to find out why."  
  
They *hadn't* thought of those things. He had a valid point. Those were all very possible occurances, not just the worried mind of a loved one at work.  
  
"Berto, how closely can you moniter the signal from the main console?" asked Kat.   
  
"Within a few feet of her location."  
  
"Moniter them as closely as you can," ordered Rachel. "If anything happens to the signal, alert the rest of us right away. At least then, we'll have someplace to start looking for her."  
  
This wasn't good enough for Max. "And how long, exactly, do you still plan on leaving my cousin in Psycho's demented hands?"  
  
Rachel looked at Smith, who looked like he was having second thoughts about this plan. "I should say at least two hours, just to be sure."  
  
Smith thought for a moment. "One hour," he stated firmly. "No more than that. Then, you are going to find my niece. I don't care if she's leads us to the Dread base or not, you will go and bring her back."  
  
Rachel nodded. She still thought that it would be wiser to wait a bit longer than that, but wasn't about to argue with her superior right now. Or Max. It was their family member whose life was hanging in the balance, after all. They had every right to be worried.   
  
"They've already had her for half an hour," pointed out Max. "And who knows how long it will take us to get to wherever they have her? I still say we should go now."   
  
"One hour from now, Max. I am very sorry, but we are going to have to take the opportunity to find them."  
  
Max clenched his fists, nails digging into his skin. He kept his jaw clenched to save him the energy of arguing when he was clearly going to lose. He ignored the sympathetic looks he was getting from the other agents. Silently, he turned and went towards the door.  
  
"Max," called Smith. Max paused, but didn't turn around. "If you leave here to find Mindy before I tell you to, you'll be disobeying a direct order."  
  
Max left the room. As if he *could* go after her without consent. Any vehicle he took, wether it was Shadow, Hawk, or something else entirely, could be overidden and controlled from the main console. Frusterated beyond belief, he made his way to the training room to vent on the equipment.  
  
  
  
  
Mindy kept glancing out the back of the van. She didn't recognize where they were or see any sign of Max. It was obvious that they were no longer in the city, but that was all she could tell.  
  
"Forget it," stated Psycho. "Your little hero has no clue where to find you. He's not coming."  
  
She glared at him. Oh, what she would give to take a blowtorch to that permanent grin of his. She continued fiddling with her scrunchy. He didn't notice her turn on the microphone of the transmitter. "Where are we going?"  
  
"Somewhere where your little friend will never find you."  
  
"If this is about my uncle paying a ransom, you aren't going to get one red cent."  
  
"As if I care about that. You're not a meal ticket, you're an insurance policy. Max Steel would never let anything happen to you. And if he wants you to stay safe, he'll stop sticking his nose where it doesn't belong."  
  
There had to be something else. She and Max didn't even know each other until after someone had tried to kidnapp her. She would have pressed the issue, but she didn't really care at the moment.   
  
"Max *will* come for me. Don't think he won't."  
  
"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that." He sounded as if he wanted to laugh. "Face it, your little friend isn't coming," he said, seeing her glance out the window again.  
  
She glared daggers at him. "My 'little friend' is going to kick your ass."  
  
"In your dreams. I could take on Max Steel any day."  
  
"You just keep telling yourself that, *Smiley*," she retorted in a mocking voice.  
  
He growled. "Don't call me that!" The way he was looking at her told her that this conversation was over.  
  
She glanced out the back again. She reached up and rubbed her hands over her face. She let them rest there for a few seconds. Placing her mouth next to the pin, she whipered softly, "Max, where are you?"  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Sorry, that's all I could come up with for now. Maybe I'll get lucky and the 'keyboard demon' will take over like it did for the first few chapters. And I should probably tell you now, my imagination went on overload with possibilities for this character, so there will be more than one story about Mindy McGrath. Probably three. Most of Mindy's past (I hinted at it in chapter 10) will probably be explained in the second story. I was going to put it in this one, but it's running kind of long already. If anybody objects to my writing a series featuring Mindy, speak now or forever hold your piece. Of course, I'll probably write more stories anyway. Then again, you don't have to read them. Thank you for reading what I've written so far. Please review.  
  
Rhiannon Faylinn 


	14. Rescue Underway

Disclaimer: Guess what? I *still* don't own Max Steel.   
  
A/N: Okay, since my best friend opted, rather than leave a review complaining about it, to call and actually yell at me about it, I think I might have overdone it a little on the cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter. Sorry. I didn't plan to do that. It just kinda turned out that way. And, hey, I need to keep you guys interested somehow. (Evil grin)  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Max stopped demolishing the punching bag when he heard Mindy speak. She was alive and safe. For now. He listened intently to her conversation with Psycho. It was nice to know she had so much faith in him. He couldn't help but smile when she called Psycho Smiley. Her last words, however, made him frusterated again. He wanted to help her so badly. Thanks to Rachel's stupid plan, he wasn't allowed to.  
  
  
  
  
Berto smothered a laugh at Mindy's last comment to Psycho. So much alike, her and Max. Just one of the reasons why he couldn't understand his attraction to her. He wasn't blind, he never thought she was ugly. Then, when he actually met her and talked to her, he'd noticed just how pretty she actually was. The thing that really surprised him was that she seemed unaware of it. Of course, she was also just as annoying as she had seemed and was fully aware of it. In fact, she seemed to like being annoying.  
  
"Max, where are you?"  
  
There was fear in her words. He felt bad leaving her hanging like this. He didn't even want to think about how Max felt hearing her whispered question. Max was taking it as well as could be expected, he supposed. Sure, they would probably need to replace most of the equipment in the training room, but that was okay. What he didn't think was okay was that he was sitting here trying to figure out why he liked this girl at a time like this.  
  
Not too long after that little chat, the signal showed as the signal remained in a single location. Berto locked in on the location. Hopefully, Psycho wouldn't decide to take her somewhere else after this. Now all they had to do was wait another half an hour before Team Steel went after them both.  
  
  
  
  
Nearly fifteen minutes after her attempt to question Smiley, the van slowed and stopped. Smiley shoved open the back doors and yanked Mindy roughly out behind him. She winced as her bare feet came in contact with the gravel covered ground. Mentally, she cursed herself for not taking the time to slip on at least a pair of slippers before venturing out of the house. The sharp gravel felt as though it were cutting into her feet. Smiley either didn't notice her plight, or didn't care. He continued to drag her along behind him. She was almost relieved when they actually entered the building. Almost.   
  
Smiley didn't slow his pace even for a second. Mindy practically had to run to keep up with him. She stumbled a few times before he looked back at her. Not really caring about her comfort, but annoyed with her stumbles, he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.  
  
Mindy would rather have been running to keep up than be trapped under the freakshow's arm. She put as much distance as she possibly could between them as he carried her, which wasn't much at all. She was beginning to worry about the signal from the transmitter. The place wasn't exactly Fort Knox, but was still heavily armoured. The outer walls were a few inches thick and made of metal. That was going to interfere with the signal, if not block it completely. And the deeper they went into the building, the weaker the signal would get.  
  
Psycho stopped in front of a row of metal doors. He yanked open one of them, set Mindy down and pushed her inside. She stumbled forward into the dark little room. The door slammed shut behind her. Faintly, she heard his footprints fading away.  
  
Her eyes adjusted to the dark fairly quickly. She could just make out what looked like a cot. Other than that, the room was empty. She looked all around for some sort of light source. Nothing. Great, she thought. So I've got to sit here in the dark and wait for Max to show up and get me the hell out. If he can even find me.   
  
Cautiously, she walked around the room. The walls felt smooth and polished. They were made of metal, too, she realized. The floor was concrete and there were no windows. Even Max would have trouble getting out of this room. Or in. That was probably the whole point. Dejectedly, she made her way back to the bed and sat down. There was nothing she could really do now except wait and hope the signal was still getting through.  
  
  
  
  
The second the signal began to fade, Max had told his father. Smith didn't look happy at all about this new development, but reminded Max that they had less than half an hour left, so he was to wait. Feeling extremely agitated, he headed for the hanger to make sure everything was ready.   
  
The signal grew weaker and weaker, until he could barely hear it at all. With each passing minute, Max grew more impatient. He paced the room like a caged animal.   
  
Finally, the rest of the team, except Berto, came into the room to prepare for the mission. Max was a little confused. Didn't they still have fifteen minutes left?  
  
"Smith gave the go ahead," said Kat, as if reading his mind. "He's just as..." she looked at him, "almost as anxious as you are. Rachel's not thrilled about going early, but Berto says the signal didn't move anywhere, just faded. He also said the signal would get a little stronger as we got closer to the source."  
  
Max felt somewhat relieved. No more waiting. A few minutes after that, he took off in Hawk while the others followed in other crafts.  
  
  
  
  
Mindy started as she heard the bolt on her door sliding open. She held her breath as the door swung open. A Dread soldier walked in and the door closed behind him. A second later, light flooded the room. Mindy squinted against the sudden brightness. The soldier walked over to her and held out his hands. In one was a paper plate with some kind of sandwich on it. In the other was a paper cup filled with water.  
  
Mindy looked at him, confused. This was an odd time to be feeding her. Hesitantly, she took the offered items.   
  
He glanced at the ground. After a time Mindy followed his gaze. Her eyes widened at the sight of blood. There was a small trail of it leading to her feet. She set the plate and cup down next to her and picked up her feet. Looking at the bottom of her feet, she could see a cut on her left foot.   
  
"I guess that gravel was a little sharper than I thought," she mumbled.  
  
The soldier turned and left without saying a word. There was the audible sound of the door locking behind him. The lights, though, remained on.   
  
Mindy looked suspiciously at the sandwich. She lifted one of the bread slices. Peanut butter. It didn't sell funny or anything, but she still decided not to eat it. She didn't have much of an appetite right now, anyway. The water, on the other hand, looked rather inviting. If it was drugged, she couldn't smell it.   
  
The Dread soldier came back in. He said nothing, but knelt down in front of her and lifted her left foot off the ground. For the first time, she noticed he carried a small box, which he now opened. Silently, he cleaned the cut, pausing when she jerked a little at the stinging sensation from the iodine he used. After that, he bandaged the injury.   
  
She was surprised. The cut wasn't very serious. Why was he bothering to treat it?   
  
When he finished, he put the items he'd used back in the box, which Mindy now knew to be a firt aid kit. He stood and headed to the door. He paused for a second as he heard her quiet, "Thank you." Then, he was gone and she was alone again.  
  
She sat on the cot with her back against the wall and sighed. She would've tried to fight the guy and make a break for the door, but knew it was pointless. There was no way she was getting out of this place. Not without some sort of plan and knowledge of the layout. She had neither. Even if she had gotten out of the cell, she wouldn't know which way to go to get out. Besides, this place was crawling with goons. If, by some miracle, she actually got past them and outside, she wouldn't know where to go anyway. No, she would have to stay put for now.  
  
She was fairly certain there was a hidden camera somewhere in the room. That was the reason she fought her tears so much now. They may have caught her and be holding her against her will, but she'd be damned if she let them see her cry.  
  
"Max, if you can hear me, please hurry."  
  
  
  
  
"Max."  
  
"What up, Berto?" he answered as he manuvered Hawk through the air.  
  
"I just got a call from our mole. Mindy is at the base. She's perfectly fine except for a cut on her foot. They have her in a prisoner's cell that's made of metal and concrete. They're expecting you to try and get her back, they just don't know when."  
  
"The signal is getting stronger. How close are we?"  
  
"Close. You should be there within a few minutes."  
  
"Good." A pause, then, "Just a cut, huh?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Smiley's gonna pay for that."  
  
"Oh, and the clean-up crew just got back from picking up the trash in front of your house. There were four soldiers, not two."  
  
"Huh. Well, I only remember taking out two." He smiled. "The other two must have been Mindy's."  
  
"Now, why does that not surprise me?" He thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah. It's because she reminds me of you."  
  
Max smirked. "I should be really grossed out by that little fact."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Because of the way you were looking at her half night when we went dancing."  
  
Berto turned bright red and thanked god that no one was around to see his face right now. He noticed? Great. Just great. "I don't know what you mean."  
  
"Please. You were a lot more subtle than Pete, but you were looking. And I did *not* miss that look you had when I cut into your dance."  
  
"What look?"  
  
"That dissapointed look. You were having fun."  
  
"Can we not talk about this right now? There's a job to do," snapped Berto.   
  
"We *will* be talking about this later, bro," said Max.  
  
"I don't doubt it, hermano. You should be close enough to see the base by now."  
  
"All I see is trees right now. Wait. There's a building."  
  
"That has to be it."  
  
Max landed Hawk behind some trees about 100 yards from the building. He contacted the others and told them exactly where he was and where the base was. Then, he switched to stealth mode and crept toward the building.   
  
"You know," he said quietly to Berto, "I should warn you now, Morgan is pretty picky about guys she's willing to be friends with. You can imagine how picky she is about who she'll date."  
  
"Max, now is not the time."  
  
"I'm just sayin', you're gonna have to show her that she can trust you before she'll even consider dating you."  
  
"Max, first of all, I never said I want to date her. I just think she's interesting. Second, will you please stay focused on the mission?"  
  
"Alright. Fine. Whatever."  
  
"Do you think you can manage to find a way in without drawing attention to yourself?"   
  
"You know me, bro."  
  
"Exactly. That's why I'm asking."  
  
"Ha, ha. Very funny." Max seriously lucked out right then. A pair of Dread soldiers, who were patrolling the perimeter, walked by. Quickly and silently, Max crept up behind them. They never knew what hit them. He dragged them into the trees. The handcuffed them together and sat them on opposite sides of a tree. He then handcuffed their other hands together so that they were pretty much wrapped around the tree. They wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. Max noticed that one of them had a key ring with a number of keys attatched to his belt and took those with him, just in case.   
  
Soon after, he was through the first door. To his chargin, there was another door that he needed a card and code to get through. The card wasn't a problem, there was one attatched to the key ring he'd borrowed. He had no way of knowing what the code was.  
  
"Our mole gave me the code," said Berto, "but there's a camera on the other side of that door. If they see the door open and close on it's own, they might get a little suspicious."  
  
"So what do I do? Wait for someone else to open the door?"  
  
Two Dread soldiers came in from outside. Max pressed himself against the wall.  
  
"Max, are you in here?" hissed one of them.   
  
"Kat?" asked Max.  
  
"We found those two guards you took out. We borrowed their outfits. They didn't seem to mind."  
  
"I hope you remembered that mask so Mindy doesn't recognize you."  
  
"Max, chill. It's taken care of." She moved over to the other door. "What's the code?"  
  
Berto told Max, who repeated the numbers. And they were in.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Sorry guys. I'm leaving you on another cliffhanger. I don't know why I keep doing this latley. Anyway, I am really, *really* sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I hope some of you are still reading. And thank you to one of my readers for that e-mail. I must confess, I can't remember all the details. It's been so long since I've been able to watch the show. I miss it so much. Just for you, I changed the summary to let people know that it's an AU story. And Thank you for liking Mindy. Why do you think I made her the way she is? I'm sick to death of the helpless female crap you usually see, too. It's irritating when you only have either the little Mary Sue girls or the tough girls. There's almost no in between. So I decided to make Mindy walk right along the border separating those two types. She isn't exactly Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but she's not the type to go down without a fight either. She's also not a total tomboy (she wears make-up and dresses like a girl), but girly she ain't (you remember the belching contest).   
Anyway, I'm done babbling. Once again, sorry it took forever. The next chapter could take awhile. I have a pretty good idea what will happen, but I need to come up with all the details.   
  
Rhiannon Faylinn  
  
P.S. Please review. Pretty please. It helps to inspire me. 


	15. An Issue Of Trust

Disclaimer: (Sniffle) Must we bring this up again?  
  
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"Now, Max, remember," said Kat as the three agents walked down the halls of the Dread base, "we have to find out what it is they're planning before we get Mindy."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," grumbled Max. He was still in stealth mode, so his fellow agents could only hear him. "I still say it would be better to get her out of here before all hell breaks loose."  
  
"And what? Ask her to wait in Hawk? Somehow, I doubt she'd stay put. She's too much like you, she'd want to help. Right now, the safest place for her is probably in that cell."  
  
Max didn't respond to that, knowing she was right.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *   
  
In her cell, Mindy fought the urge to bite her nails. It had taken her forever to rid herself of the habit. She didn't want to start again. She didn't have a watch, so she didn't know long she'd been here. It felt like it had been hours though.   
  
Her thoughts drifted to her cousin. Had he called the police or anyone else? "Josh must be so worried," she murmered.   
  
Where the hell was Max? She had decided a while ago that if the signal was getting through, he would have been here by now. Either that, or she had put her trust in the wrong person. Again. The first choice was the one she wanted to believe. But, then again, she had learned *long* ago that the only guy she could really, truly count on was Josh. Her faith in any other guy, even her uncle, was shakey at best.   
  
Max isn't like the others, she told herself. He's not like my dad, Kyle or Scott. He's like Josh. He would never abandon me or hurt me. She kept repeating that to herself.  
  
The fear that he would do just that remained all the same.   
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *   
  
Max felt more wretched than ever when Mindy mumbled something about Josh being worried. Why hadn't he found a way to keep her out of this? He reminded himself of the fact that the cell she was in would be a safer place for her than wherever the N'Tek agents were. That was the only thing that kept him from following the signal to where she was and getting her out.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Dread walked down the assembley line, inspecting the work being done. The lazer cannons had been miniaturized and his soldiers were being trained to use them. Tomorrow they would take out N'Tek. Once that irritating Jefferson Smith and his agents were out of the way, there would be no one to stop them from taking control of the state. And, eventually, the rest of the country. Once they had complete control of the states, they would move on to other countries until DREAD controlled everything.  
  
The part he looked forward to the most was eliminating Smith's even more irritating son, Max Steel. No matter what happened, he always managed to somehow come back from the dead. He was also the one who usually screwed up all of Dread's plans. There would be no screw ups tomorrow. They would make sure that Max Steel died and stayed dead. He'd cheated them, and death, out of their victory long enough.  
  
The scientist who had dreamed up the lazer cannon would have been a welcome addition to their side, he thought. Unfortunatly, the man had refused to work with them or give up the plans. So, they had taken them by force and he had been killed in the process. But not before he managed to destroy most of his files. Oh, well. Dread had the last remaining copy of the plans, which he kept safe, locked up in his office. His workers only knew bits and pieces of the plans. He had decided to form assembley lines not only because it was fast, but so that no one but him would know how to make the entire cannon. The members of different assembley groups were forbidden to converse. That way, no one could betray him.   
  
Psycho was in the room as well. He was inspecting a finished weapon. Satisfied, he put it back on a table.  
  
"How is our guest?"  
  
Psycho looked up to see Dread approaching. "She's locked up. I put her in one of the reinforced cells."  
  
"Was she any trouble?"  
  
"She talks too much. Just like her cousin. Other than that, not really."  
  
"How many men went with you?"  
  
"Five."  
  
"And how many came back?"  
  
"One."  
  
Dread raised an eyebrow. "Steel took out four of my men?"  
  
"Well, not exactly."  
  
"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"  
  
"The McGrath girl is tougher than she looks. I warned them not to underestimate her, but they did anyway. She took out two of them. Steel took out the other two."   
  
"I thought you said she wasn't any trouble."  
  
"She wasn't. For me."  
  
"Is the cell guarded?"  
  
"There's a guard in the hall."  
  
"I want a guard posted in front of every cell in that hall."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Just in case N'Tek tries to get her back."  
  
"But why a guard in front of every cell? Why not just put a few gaurds in front of her door?"  
  
"And why don't we just tell them exactly where she is while we're at it? This way, they'll still have to check every cell. Giving us more time to take care of them."  
  
Growling, Psycho went off to make sure the orders were carried out.  
  
"Fool," mumbled Dread as Psycho left.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *   
  
Max flattened himself against the wall as Psycho, leading a group of Dread soldiers, came down the hall. It was all Max could do to restrain himself from attacking Psycho right then and there.   
  
Max was about ready to follow him, but was reminded by both Kat and Berto that they had to find out what Dread's plan was. Max grumbled something that was either, "Yeah, yeah, yeah," or a very rude suggestion of what they could go do. They chose to believe it was the first one.  
  
Instead of following Psycho, they went in the direction he had come from. Not long after, they found themselves at the entrance of room where the cannons were being built. They couldn't really tell what was going on though.  
  
"Berto, what are they up to?" asked Max.  
  
"You need to get closer so I can see what they're working on."  
  
Max obediently wandered down the assembly line, glancing at the work that was being done.  
  
"It's some kind of assembly line," said Berto.   
  
"Thanks bro. Like I couldn't have figured *that* part out for myself," whispered Max sarcastically.  
  
"Go to the end of the line and focus on the finished product."  
  
Max did as he was told. A quick analysis by Berto confirmed his earlier theory. "Smaller versions of the weapon Psycho had at the ice rink. Looks like they're building enough of them for every Dread agent there is."  
  
"Terrific. So we have to destroy the ones they've already manufactured and the plans, right?"  
  
"Sounds like a good idea to me hermano. I don't suppose you would be willing to wait patiently for some more back-up?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"How about I find out where the plans are while we're waiting?"  
  
"I'm amazed. A plan that you came up with that I actually agree with."  
  
"Where's a good place to start looking?"  
  
"It looks like each group is only assembling certain parts. They probably only have the plans for those particular parts. Dread probably has a copy of the plans hidden somewhere. We need to make sure we get every copy there is, hermano. The world's not ready for a weapon like this, especially in Dread's hands."   
  
"Okay, so, the plan is destroy the plans, trash the weapons, get Mindy and go home. Right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"How do we go about doing that?"  
  
"Not a clue, Max."  
  
"Great. Okay, knowing Dread, and, unfortunatly, I know him well, he probably has a copy in his office. That would probably be the safest place in the building as far as he's concerned. That's probably the best place to start."  
  
"I'll let you know when your back-up gets there."  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Mindy perked her ears at the faint sound of footsteps outside the door. Quickly and quietly she went to the door and pressed her ear against it. She heard a voice that she now recognized as Smiley's voice ordering someone around. She strained her ears to hear what was being said. Unfortunatly, she could only make out bits and pieces.   
  
"Alright...door...she's inside." Mindy gritted her teeth in frusteration and listened harder. "If Steel...the girl...doesn't get her...hell to pay."  
  
Steel? As in Max Steel? Her heart leapt. Was he here,or were they just taking precautions? Obviously, they were afraid Max would come rescue her, despite the little speech Smiley had given her on the way here. That comforted her somewhat.   
  
She still couldn't understand why they had chosen her to use against Max. They barely knew each other. She sat on the cot and thought hard. Why was she so important to Max? Well, he and Josh were friends and she was pretty much Josh's only family. Maybe Max knew that and was protecting her for Josh's sake? Possibly. Was it because she had warned Max of danger at the ice rink? Could be. That was all she could come up with for now. It still felt like she was missing something. What could it be?  
  
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I know it's kinda short. I would've made the chapter longer, but it's been a while since the last update, so I decided to go ahead and post what I have so far. I'm really sorry about the cliffhangers. Please don't hate me for it. When you're writing a climactic part of a story, it's really hard not to do that. Go ahead and yell at me for it if you want to. There are probably only going to be a few chapters left in this story. Depends on how well my brain works. By the way, I apologize for taking forever. But I had my reasons. Like that I got the flu recently. I hate being sick, by the way. But then, who likes it, right? I'll go work on the next chapter now. Later. 


	16. Time To Choose

Disclaimer: As if you didn't already know I own nothing except Mindy. Oh, and the story itself.  
  
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"I wish I had a map," grumbled Max as he searched for Dread's office. He had only been looking for a few minutes, but his patience was thinner than usual right now.  
  
"I wish I could help you out, hermano. Remeber, we can't leave any copies of the plans or even one of those lazers behind."  
  
"I got it, bro. Now, if I was a power hungry villan hell-bent on ruling the world, where would I keep my office?" he asked himself. It took a while, but he eventually came across a door that looked like it was made of solid oak, rather than metal. Seemed like as good a choice as any. Max paused in front of the door and listened carefully. Nothing. No speaking, no breathing, just silence. Caustiously, he opened the door. Inside, he found a lavishly decorated room. With a huge desk in the middle. "Found it," he said proudly.  
  
"Good. Check the computer first."  
  
Max went over to the desk and looked blankly at the machine sitting on it. "What do I do? Type in 'deadly weapons' and see what comes up?"  
  
Berto sighed and walked him through it. Nope. The plans weren't in the computer itself. "He must have a disk or a file somewhere."  
  
"Terrific," muttered Max. He began to quickly go through the drawers in the desk.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Mindy, unable to sit still anymore, nervously paced her cell. She wasn't an idiot. She knew that there were a lot of guards right outside the door. They talked from time to time. Although she couldn't understand most of what was being said, she could tell there were at least five or six. Maybe more.  
  
"Okay," she told herself aloud, "they wouldn't have bothered with all the guards if they didn't think Max would try to rescue me. If these guys are worried, it means he probably will. So, he's probably just not here yet because he's coming up with a plan first. Or he can't find me because the signal can't get through the walls. That's got to be it. Max wouldn't just leave me here. He wouldn't abandon me like..."  
  
She stopped suddenly, realizing that she wasn't just trying to assure herself that everything would be fine.She was trying to convince herself that she could trust Max. "What am I doing? This is rediculous. You either trust Max or you don't. Now which one is it?" she asked herself.  
  
Through all that, she had forgotten that the microphone in her transmitter was still on.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Well?! Which one is it? Max thought as he continued his search for the weapon plans.  
  
Sensing Max's aggitation, Berto tried to clear some of the tension. "Does she do that a lot ?" he asked.  
  
"Huh?" asked Max.  
  
"Does Mindy talk to herself all the time?"  
  
"Oh, that. She usually does that when she's frusterated or nervous. Or when she's pissed off, but we don't need to go there." He paused. "Ever."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"If you had ever seen that girl mad, you'd understand."  
  
"I have. At the club when that girl made her spill soda on herself," Berto reminded him.  
  
"No, that was irritated. Mindy's pretty good about controlling her temper, but, when she loses it, major scaryness."  
  
"How bad can it be?"  
  
"Put it this way. I would rather face Smiley, Dread, Dragonelle, *and* Electrix, at the same time, than Mindy when she's on the warpath. Luckily, she's never been that mad at *me*, but I've seen the results of when someone else pissed her off."  
  
"Bad enough that you'd rather face four people who have tried to kill you repeatedly?"  
  
"Yeah, well. I'll tell you more about it later."  
  
Max hadn't found anything in the desk. "Where the hell could they be?" He turned his attention to the bookshelves that lined the walls. He wanted to hit his head against the wall. If what he was looking for was hidden in one of those books, then this was going to take a while.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
He saved you from these guys more than once. How could you possibly not trust him?!  
  
He's a guy! Every guy I've ever completely trusted...  
  
*Every* guy? What about Josh?  
  
Josh is different.  
  
How?  
  
He... he just is!  
  
Oh, yeah. Great excuse Mindy. 'He just is.' What a wonderful reason for doubting Max. Uh-hu. Especially since you think Max and Josh are a lot alike.  
  
Oh, shut up!  
  
Mindy's fear and her logic continued to argue about whether or not she should trust in her friend or not. Meanwhile, she ignored the two parts of herself that knew beyond any doubt whether he could be trusted or not. Her heart and her instincts.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Max's first thought had been that it would be faster if he tipped the bookcases over. But Berto had vetoed that idea. It would make too much noise, quite possibly drawing more attention than they needed. Besides, it would mean trying to sort through the books spilled all across the floor. It would be hard to know which he had checked already and which he had not. So, instead, Max had climbed the rolling ladder that leaned against the top of the shelves. He had started with the top shelves and worked his way down. He was checking the books as fast as he possibly could and dropping them on the floor.  
  
Nothing in the first bookcase.  
  
Max started from the bottom of the next one. He concentrated on making sure he hadn't missed anything and tried not to think about the fact that there were still three more bookcases to go.  
  
He was nearly finished with the top shelf of the second bookshelf. As his left hand reached out for another book, his right hand intinctively reacher across the next bookshelf to maintain balance. His fingertips brushed across a something that made him turn and look curiously at the book he had touched.  
  
Most of the books were leather bound. Max had not come across a single paperback. This book looked like the rest. However, it felt different. It wasn't bound by leather. Not only that, it felt different than the other books. Not quite like the standard hard binding of most books. It felt... more solid than it should.  
  
"Max, what are you doing?"  
  
"Hang on a second, bro." Turning away from the books he had been about to examine, he pulled out the strange book. It felt heavier than it should. He stared at it for a second. He tried to thumb through it. It couldn't be done. The pages were stuck together and didn't even feel like paper. Now he knew why the book had felt weird. It was made of kevlar, not paper. Excitedly, he pulled the cover open. Sure enough, it was hollow in the middle. And in the hollow book was a computer disk.  
  
"Check it on the computer to make sure it's the right one," said Berto.  
  
Max hopped of the ladder and quickly complied. He had to resist the urge to let out a victory yell when he confirmed it was the right disk. He glanced at the 'book' in his hand. "A history of Napolean," he read. "The title alone should've been a givaway. Do you think it's the only copy?"  
  
"I hope so, hermano. You'd better check the other books just in case."  
  
"That'll take too long. I want to get this done and get Mindy out of here, like yesterday."  
  
"Max, she's fine right now. That might not be the case if Dread has any spare copies we don't get."  
  
"What if I just use the lighter in the desk and torch the room?"  
  
"Oh, that won't give the team away," Berto answered sarcastically.  
  
"Fine," grumbled Max.  
  
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UGH!!! I *HATE* writer's block!!! The chapter would've been out sooner and it would've been longer if I didn't have writer's block. Don't expect the next chapter anytime soon. I am *sooo* sorry for not posting sooner. On the plus side, it's not as big of a cliffhanger as the other chapters. 


	17. Hostage Situation

Disclaimer: (Glares at readers who still don't know.) o\/o  
  
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Max had gone through every book in the office and searched the rest of it for any other place a file or computer disk might be hidden. It seemed that this was the only copy of the plans. "Okay. So now all we got to do is trash every weapon they've already made, get Mindy and go home. Right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"Any ideas yet on how to go about getting rid of the lasers, bro?"  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"Great. Looks like we're winging it then."  
  
"Looks like. Just be careful. We don't want you to get fried. And we don't know what they'll do to Mindy if they find you there."  
  
"Yeah. I got that, thanks." Max went into stealth mode and slipped out of the office. He crept cautiously down the halls, avoiding Dread soldiers all the way.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Kat and the agent with her, Jake Nez, had crept around the room and managed to pilfer all the printed copies of the weapon plans right out from under the workers noses. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed.  
  
"I don't suppose either of you have any ideas on how to get rid of the laser cannons?" asked Max as he came up behind them at the edge of the room.  
  
"I really wish you would give us some warning before you do that Steel," said Kat. "And no. Nothing that won't draw attention."  
  
"Your back up is waiting outside you guys. Just say the word and I'll send them in."  
  
Max sized up the room again. "I need you two to cause a diversion. One that will get everyone away from the table where they have the weapons."  
  
"Why do I sense a, 'We're doing this the Max Steel way,' coming on?" asked Kat.  
  
"Well, since I don't have to say it now, I'll just explain. I'm going to attatch a couple of explosives to the tables and get rid of the weapons. Bro, the second I set off the explosion, send in the back-up."  
  
"Alright. But be careful. If even one-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. If even one weapon is left, we're shit out of luck. I got it bro. I might just borrow one, but I'll make sure they're all destroyed."  
  
Quickly and quietly Max made his way to the finished weapons. He was pretty sure the explosives he had safely packed in his utility belt would be enough. It wasn't as if he could just go up and ask Kat and Jake if he could borrow some of theirs. Manuevering around Dread workers and tables, he slipped under the large table and pulled out the explosives that were usually just for opening doors and stuff like that. He cringed, knowing he was going to have to spread it out to make sure he got the whole table and that that would make the explosion weaker. "Bro?"  
  
"Sorry, hermano. You'll have to do the best you can with what you have."  
  
He thought for a moment. "What would happen if I used one of the lazers on the rest of them?"  
  
"Do you remember what I said about the prototype we found?"  
  
"Yeah. That it would kill me in one shot and if the power were increased..." he trailed off. He smiled. "So, it would do a nasty number on them."  
  
"Exactly. And combined with the explosives, even not very high explosives in a small amount like you have, should do the trick."  
  
"Great. Tell Kat and Jake to use some of their explosives to cause that distraction we're going to need, but not until I'm ready."  
  
"Got it." Berto quickly relayed the message to Kat and Jake.  
  
"Wait here," said Jake. Silently, he slipped out of the room and went down the hall a bit. He made sure that no one was looking and carefully attached his own explosives to the wall. The blast would be loud enough that it should cause the people in the assembly line to come running. When he finished, he went back to Kat and gave her the thumbs up.  
  
"We're ready," she told Berto.  
  
"Just another second," said Max. "Alright, just let me get out from under here. Okay. Now."  
  
"Now," whispered Kat. Jake hit the detonator button on his belt.  
  
The explosion got the attention of everyone all right. As people ran from the room to see what the commotion was about, Max grabbed a couple of the laser cannons and ran across the room. From there, he waited for everyone to get out. The moment the last person tore out of the room, he came out of stealth mode and opened fire on the table.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
In her cell, Mindy jumped as the explosion rocked the building. She heard the gaurds outside going ballistic and their feet pounding the floor as some of them ran away towards the source of the explosion.  
  
What the hell was going on?  
  
A small smile played her lips. There was a distinct possibility in her mind about what caused that explosion. "Max," she whispered.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Realising that the explosion was meant as a diversion, Dread hurried to his office. It had been ransacked. Instantly, he looked to the shelf where the disk was hidden. It wasn't there. He found the hollow book on the floor, empty.  
  
Snarling in frustration, he pounded his fist on the desk. "Damn it!"  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"What the hell is going on?" demanded Psycho as he stood in the security room.  
  
"There's been an explosion in the assembly room," explained the nervous man who sat in front of the monitors.  
  
"What the fuck caused it?"  
  
"I don't know." He froze as he caught sight of the monitors that showed the perimeter of the base. "Sir, we're under attack!"  
  
Psycho looked at the monitors. "N'Tek," he growled. Psycho's eyes fixed themselves on the screens that showed the assembly room. "Steel," he snarled, seeing Max engaging in hand to hand combat with several Dread soldiers.  
  
He stormed into the hall and grabbed the nearest Dread soldier. "Get the girl," he ground out.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Mindy's hope soared as someone opened the door, but dropped again as she realised it wasn't Max. It was another bad guy in a clown suit.  
  
He grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her out of the cell. He pointed a gun at her and told her to move. Mindy obeyed only because she wasn't stupid enough to try something with a gun literally pointing at her head. Besides, she still didn't have any way out of here. She had little doubt what was going to happen now. Especially if that explosion was caused by Max. Sure enough, she was taken straight to Smiley.  
  
"Max Steel is gonna learn not to poke his nose in other people's business." With that, he grabbed her right wrist and snapped some kind of electronic handcuff on it. He snapped the other cuff onto his left wrist and dragged her down the hall.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Kat!" yelled Max, tossing one of the remaining laser cannons to her. She caught it easily and pointed it at some Dread soldiers who were rushing at her. They stopped cold when they saw the cannon. No way were they going up against that when they new the damage it could do.  
  
"Hey, Steel!"  
  
Max looked up in the direction the voice had come from. There was a set of metal stairs that led up to a platform where the entire room could be observed from. Smiley had come through the door on the platform. He held a gun in his hand.  
  
"If I were you, I'd hand those cannons over to those guards over there." he gestured towards a few Dread soldiers that were being detained by some other N'Tek agents.  
  
"Now, why would I want to do a crazy thing like that?"  
  
In one smooth motion, Smiley reached his arm through the doorway and grabbed Mindy by the hair. He yanked her out for Steel to see, ignoring the yelp of pain that came from her.  
  
"Mindy!" Max couldn't breath.  
  
Mindy's right arm had gone up when Smiley grabbed her hair. Now she gripped her own hair in an attempt to keep him from ripping it out. "Max."  
  
"Hand them over," Smiley said in a very smug voice.  
  
Max's eyes darted from Mindy, to the Dread soldiers, to the other agents, to the cannon and back to Smiley.  
  
"Oh, come on Steel," he taunted. He shoved Mindy in front of him as he moved closer to the edge of the platform. "Doesn't your precious little Mindy mean more to you than your little friends?" Max still hesitated.  
  
"Max, don't!" She didn't know why the weapon Max held was so important, but if Smiley wanted it, it couldn't be a good thing.  
  
"Shut up!" snarled Smiley, giving Mindy's hair a vicious yank. She cried out.  
  
Max pointed the cannon at Smiley. "Let her go."  
  
"Hmm. No, I don't think so."  
  
"Let her go, dammit!"  
  
He gave a dry laugh. "Or what? You'll shoot me with that thing?" He dropped Mindy's hair and held up his arm, dragging hers up as well to reveal the cuffs. "Go ahead and fire. Kill me and you kill her, too. So, go ahead Steel. Shoot."  
  
Max paled horribly. It would have been dangerous enough to fire with her standing within several feet of him. With her both in front of Smiley and chained to him, there was pretty much no way to hit Smiley without hitting her too. If I can get us all out of here alive, I'll believe there's a god, he thought. If not, I'm becoming an atheist. And right now, that seems like the more likely outcome.  
  
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YAY! An update! Whoo-hoo! Finally!  
  
Okay. I know it's a pretty short chapter. Sorry about that. And I am very, *very*, *VERY* sorry I haven't updated in so long. It's like my brain got sick of thinking about Max Steel and shut down that section of my mind for a couple of months and then suddenly let me write almost the entire chapter today. Please don't be mad at me. Please. (Smiles hopefully)  
  
But I'm not apologizing for my evil cliffhanger. I need to keep you interested and the best way to do that is by keeping you in suspense. And there's only going to be two or three more chapters to this story. Then I'm taking a break from Max Steel before I start writing the sequel so that it doesn't suck.  
  
Please leave a review. I miss them because nobody wants to read my other stories.  
  
Rhiannon Faylinn 


	18. To Catch Her When She Falls

Disclaimer: Sigh  
  
A/N: I am really sorry this took so freakin' long. I can't believe I started this story over a year ago. Well, it's almost finished. Please enjoy this next chapter. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______  
  
Max kept the cannon pointed at Psycho, even though they both knew he wasn't going to fire it. Not with Mindy in the way. Oh, Mother of God, what was he supposed to do?  
  
Vaguely, he heard Berto swearing in Spanish through his bio-link. Part of him registered that all the other agents, though keeping the Dread soldiers detained, had stopped moving for the most part and were now watching the drama playing out before them. Even the Dread soldiers were watching. But, for the most part, Max's attention was on his enemy and his cousin.  
  
He looked at the weapn in his hand again. If he turned it over... But it was for Mindy. His baby cousin. He couldn't just let her get hurt. Or worse. Still, he couldn't hand over the laser. He raised his eyes again.  
  
"Don't give it to them," Mindy mouthed. Whatever that weapon was, she didn't want it in Smiley's hands. Or any other bad guys' hands. She didn't want to be stuck in this position either. A human shield for the mechanical freak who had chained himself to her. There had to be a way out of this. She couldn't think of a single one, but there had to be. Max, hurry up and think of something, she thought desperately.  
  
There has to be out of this, thought Max. A way that would keep Mindy safe and sound and keep the laser cannon in N'Tek's hands. Whatever that way was, he couldn't think of it. Okay, he commanded himself, stop thinking about the fact that it's Mindy. If it was anyone else, what would I do? "Bro?" he asked quietly.  
  
"Uh..." was the only answer he got.  
  
"Can this possibly get any worse?" he whispered quietly to himself. Instantly, he regretted having uttered those words. Every time someone said that, things somehow got worse. His own situation hadn't changed yet, for better or worse, but he was pretty sure he'd just jinxed himself. And quite possibly Mindy.  
  
"Max, look at the laser," Berto said suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Look at the laser."  
  
Confused, Max obeyed. He turned the cannon from side to side so that Berto could see the entire thing.  
  
"There! On the right side. That looks like a power control."  
  
"Meaning?"  
  
"You should be able to turn the power level down. I don't know how much. You'll have to set it to the lowest setting and fire a test shot."  
  
Max did just that, turning and firing at a wall. The laser still caused plenty of damage, but not nearly as much as before. However, it was still causing too much damage for him to risk firing anywhere near Mindy. He looked at the other side of the cannon. There was some other kind of control devise. But it wasn't labled, so he wasn't sure what it was. He tried turning it to one side and fired again at the wall. To his astonishmment, the laser had spread out a bit, leaving a horizontal burn mark. If it did that when he turned it one way...  
  
Psycho did not like where this was going. If Steel figured out exactly how to control that cannon, his "leverage" might not be quite as effective as he'd thought. Not good. He tightened his grip on the girl's hair. She winced. He didn't care.  
  
By sheer luck, Max narrowed the laser beam to a tiny pipoint. It would still hold a lot of power, more than he wanted near Mindy, but at least it was something. He aimed at Psycho again. "This entire building is surrounded, Smiley. You're not going anywhere. There's no point to this, so just let her go."  
  
"I really don't see that happening, Steel." He wrapped his cuffed arm around Mindy and lifted her in front of him. "What I *do* see happening is her dying if you don't hand it over."  
  
"This is between you and me, she has nothing to do with it."  
  
"On the contrary. I know exactly what she means to you. I hurt her, I hurt you. Simple." He put his mouth close to Mindy's ear. "Do you even know who he is, little girl?"  
  
"The guy who's going to take you apart one piece at a time."  
  
Smiley laughed. "You really don't know. What do you think, Steel? Should I tell her all about your dirty little secret?"  
  
Max blanched. He wouldn't really tell her, would he? Yes, he realized. Yes, he would.  
  
"I don't know about you, Steel, but personally, I think little Mindy here should know that- Argh!"  
  
Mindy didn't let him finish whatever he had been about to say. She reached around behind her with her free hand and grabbed a hold of his most sensitive area. She squeezed hard and dug her nails in. As she had been hoping he would, he dropped her. When he did, she let go of him and ripped herself out of his grip. She pulled as far away from him as she could as he doubled over in pain. "Max!" She held up her cuffed hand.  
  
Praying this would work, Max aimed more carefully than he had ever done before in his entire life. Saying a silent prayer, he pulled the trigger on the lazer. It hit the chain awfully close to Smiley's wrist, not that Max cared, and seperated him from Mindy. Psycho yelled in pain as he felt the burn on his wrist.  
  
Mindy stumbled back a few inches until she came in contact with the metal railing. She glanced back over her shoulder. It was a long way down. Fifteen to twenty feet. Granted, she'd done some rock climbing and other sports with Josh before where she'd been higher up than this, but she'd had saftey lines and a helmet then. And Josh was always there to catch her if she fell. Not the case this time. And she was all too aware of the fact that Smiley was between her and the doorway. That left the stairs, but they were at least ten feet away. She knew how fast Smiley was. Could she make it there before him?  
  
Recovering, Psycho growled in fury. His hate-filled glare rested on Mindy. He'd had enough of her. He rushed at her. He caught her just a couple of feet from the stairs. "You're gonna pay for that," he snarled. Before anyone could do anything, he picked her up and hoisted her over his head. "Well, Steel, it's been real." He tossed Mindy over the rail.  
  
Mindy screamed.  
  
"No!" Max ran forward and under Mindy, breaking her fall. They both fell to the ground when he caught her.  
  
Max felt a surge of relief when he heard Kat yell his name. Looking up, he saw Smiley using some other weapon he had been carrying to damage the platform's supports. The platform creaked warningly just as Smiley dashed through the door. A moment later, the platform started to fall. Without thinking, Max covered Mindy's body with his own.  
  
The platform, or what was left of it, crashed inches away from them.  
  
Max waited for the dust to settle before raising his head. Carefully he climbed off of Mindy, helped her to her feet and yelled for someone to find Smiley. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously.  
  
Mindy refused to look up at him. Instead, she looked down at the metal cuff still attatched to her wrist and began tugging at it. "I'm fine, just get this off me."  
  
Max, examined the cuff briefly before looking at her again. She still wasn't looking at him. "*Are* you okay?" he asked again, more gently this time.  
  
"I'm fine, Max." She kept her head down, letting her hair fall on either side of her face, concealing her features. Her voice was slightly shakey.  
  
Max placed his fingers under her chin and gently made her look up at him.  
  
Mindy drew in an unsteady breath. She turned to look at the destroyed assembly lines and the Dread soldiers and workers being escorted away. When she turned to look back up at Max, tonight's ordeal came crashing down on her. She could no longer hold back the tears that threatened to flow free any second. She sniffled, her lower lip trembling.  
  
Max put his arms around her as she leaned against him. A moment later, he heard her begin to sob softly. "It's okay," he said softly. "It's over now. You're safe. I'm right here."  
  
Mindy returned the embrace, sliding her arms around his torso as he spoke reassuring words to her. He promised her that he would never let her get hurt. And she believed him.  
  
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Only one more chapter to go people. I can't guarentee it will be out soon, but it will be the last chapter in this story. I am really sorry it took so long. Writer's block again. I hope I'm really over it this time. 


	19. The End and the Beginning

Disclaimer: We've been over this.  
  
A/N: Gah! I cannot believe it took me so long to write this freakin' chapter! I thought it would be easy, since I knew what I wanted to happen, but I couldn't get it down. And I was distracted by other stuff. (An obsession with Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, if you must know.) So I lost my muse on this. I still can't believe it took me over a year to write this. Anyway, I'm sorry I took forever. This is the last chapter of *this* story. I'm gonna try and write a sequel. But that could take a while so don't hold your breath while waiting for it.  
  
I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm not happy with this last chapter. I might go back at some point and redo it. But I didn't want to make you guys wait even longer.  
  
___________________________________________________________________________  
  
Mindy still couldn't believe all that had happened to her in the past couple of weeks. Even now, it didn't seem like it was real.  
  
The night she had been kidnapped, Max hadn't left her side until someone had been ordered to take her home. Even then, they had been reluctant to part.  
  
Josh had been waiting anxiously on the porch when she got back, just as the first rays of sunlight began to show over the horizon. She had rushed right into his waiting arms. After that, he had been adament about taking time off from work to spend with her.  
  
Max had called her a time or two since that night to check up on her, but she hadn't actually seen him since then. A source of disappointment for Mindy.  
  
She and Josh were at the airport now. Her flight was leaving within the hour.  
  
Pete had wanted to go with them and see Mindy off, but Laura had stopped him. It had taken some convincing and nagging, but he had finally agreed. They had said their goodbyes earlier at Josh's house. That way, Mindy and Josh could have a little time together.  
  
"Flight 117, now boarding at Gate 14," came the voice on the intercom. It had been saying the same thing for about ten minutes now. Mindy was waiting until most of the other people boarded before she got on the plane herself. As of now, more than half of the people on her flight had boarded. She would be boarding soon, herself.  
  
"Well, I guess this is it," said Josh.  
  
"Yeah." Mindy looked around again.  
  
"Um, are you looking for someone?"  
  
"Yeah, I- uh- I was kinda hoping I would see Max again before I left. I told him I was leaving today."  
  
"I'm sure he would have liked to come see you, but was just too busy." He felt an unexpected and quite ridiculous little pang of jealousy against his own alter-ego. Mindy obviously cared about Max a lot. Well, at least she didn't have a crush on him or anything. That would be really gross. "Besides, you'll be back pretty soon."  
  
"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks. Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone."  
  
Josh sputtered in mock indignation. "Me? What about you? You get into way more trouble than me."  
  
"Only on rare ocassions. And, as I recall, most of the trouble I get into involves you somehow."  
  
Josh knew that she hadn't really meant anything by that. It was very apparent that Mindy had no idea that he and Max were one and the same person. He was very thankful for that. As nice as it would be to not have to lie to her about it or mislead her, it was safer if she didn't know. "When have I ever gotten you in trouble?" he retorted.  
  
"Well, let's see. There was the time you talked me into helping you take apart Uncle Jeff's power tools to see how they worked. And the time that you tried to make milkshakes and forgot to put the lid on the blender before you turned it on and got chocolate all over us and the walls and ceiling."  
  
"Okay, okay. That's enough now."  
  
"Or that time you borrowed Uncle Jeff's four-hundred-dollar suit and spray-painted it black so we could play Zorro."  
  
"Alright, enough already!"  
  
Mindy snickered. "Not that that stuff wasn't fun, but..."  
  
Josh laughed and pulled her into a hug. "I'll see you when you get back."  
  
"Flight 117 now boarding at Gate 14."  
  
"I'd better get going," said Mindy with a sigh. She picked up her carry-on bag and slung it over her shoulder.  
  
"Oh, before I forget..." he took a small gift-wrapped box out of his pocket.  
  
"Oh, Josh, not another birthday present," she protested. He'd already given her a digital camcorder and a couple of cd's this morning.  
  
"Relax, it's not from me or my dad."  
  
She looked at him, confused. "Well then, who's it from?"  
  
He shrugged. "I mentioned to Berto that your birthday was coming up. I don't know what it is. Why don't you open it?"  
  
Berto watched anxiously through the vid-link as Mindy took the box and began to unwrap it. He wondered how she was going to react.  
  
Mindy's eyebrows shot up when she opened the box. Inside was the necklace she had seen at the fair. She removed it from the box and stared at it. Finally, she looked up at Josh. "Berto got me this?"  
  
"Yep," he nodded.  
  
She hadn't seen a necklace like this anywhere else besides at that booth at the fair. Had he gone back for it? Or had he gotten it that day? She bit her lip to keep from smiling. When she got back, she just might have to get to know Berto a little better.  
  
Then a thought came to her. She looked suspiciously at Josh. "How did you get this past security?"  
  
"Uh, um, well, uh-" He tried to think of an answer that wouldn't get him smacked or yelled at.  
  
"Final boarding call for flight 117 at Gate 14."  
  
"You'd better go before you miss your flight."  
  
She tried to scowl at him. "You so lucked out." She put the lid back on the box and stuffed it into her designer backpack. A gift from her uncle. "Bye." She hugged him again and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Bye. Hurry back."  
  
"Oh, sure, you say that now. When I get back you'll probably be begging me to go back," she joked.  
  
"Yeah, probably. Get going Morgan."  
  
"I'll see you before school starts. We still need to go shopping for supplies."  
  
He groaned. She laughed evily.  
  
Josh watched her her go through the gate. He moved to the window and tried to spot her at any of the plane windows. "I think she liked it, bro." he said quietly.  
  
"I hope so," said Berto.  
  
Josh waved to Mindy as she took her seat. She pressed her face against the window and waved back.  
  
"You know, it's going to take more than nice gifts to win her over."  
  
"We've been over this," said Berto in an exasperated tone. "I just think she'd interesting. I never once said anything about dating her."  
  
"Uh-hu. Sure. And I told you I'm not buying it. You have a crush on her."  
  
"I do not!"  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"Do not."  
  
"Do too."  
  
"Do not."  
  
"Do too."  
  
"Do not!"  
  
A dog started barking in the background and Josh stiffled his laughter as Berto groaned.  
  
"Excuse me, I have to walk my new bundle of fur and fleas. We will continue this later."  
  
Josh nearly lost control and doubled over as her heard Berto yelling for the dog to get off of him and to stop slobbering on him. Berto was definately not thrilled to have been suckered into keeping the dog that Psycho had used to lure Mindy out of the house that night. Josh couldn't keep him himself and he didn't want to take him to a shelter because he would probably be put down. So, he had turned to Berto, who had immediately refused. But, he had finally given in after enough agents had told him that he needed something else in his life besides a computer and his job. He was even less thrilled with the idea upon finding out that Kat had taken it upon herself to name the dog. The name she had picked? Buttons. Because he was "cute as a button." Now that was a phrase Josh had never, *ever* thought he would hear his partner say.  
  
Surprisingly, the dog had taken an imeadiate liking to Berto. He was constantly sitting up against him and licking him. With his leg healing nicely, he was also able to jump up on Berto. A source of great annoyance to the young scientist and great amusment to everyone else.  
  
"Well, one thing's for sure," he said to himself as he watched his cousin's plane take off. "Life definately just got a lot more interesting."  
  
The End...  
  
For now.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________  
  
Well, that's it you guys. Thank you so much for reading my story and putting up with my horrible updating habits. Not to mention my evil cliff-hangers. 


	20. The End And The Beginning Rewrite of Ch ...

Okay. I redid to chapter. It's still not my best work, but a vast improvement, I think. Hope you like.

* * *

Mindy still couldn't believe all that had happened to her in the past couple of weeks. Even now, it didn't seem like it was real.  
  
The night she had been kidnapped, Max hadn't left her side until someone had been ordered to take her home. Even then, they had been reluctant to part.  
  
Josh had been waiting anxiously on the porch when she got back, just as the first rays of sunlight began to show over the horizon. She had rushed right into his waiting arms. After that, he had been adament about taking time off from work to spend with her.  
  
Max had called her a time or two since that night to check up on her, but she hadn't actually seen him since then. A source of great disappointment for Mindy.  
  
She and Josh were at the airport now. Her flight was leaving within the hour.  
  
Pete had wanted to go with them and see Mindy off, but Laura had stopped him. It had taken some convincing and nagging, and pointing out that Mindy was at the point where she was just looking for a reason to kick his ass, but he had finally agreed. They had said their goodbyes earlier at Josh's house. That way, Mindy and Josh could have a little time together.  
  
"Flight 117 is now boarding at Gate 14," came the voice on the intercom. It had been saying the same thing for about ten minutes now. Mindy was waiting until most of the other people boarded before she got on the plane herself. As of now, more than half of the people on her flight had boarded. She would be boarding soon, herself.  
  
"Well, I guess this is it," said Josh.  
  
"Yeah." Mindy looked around for the umpteenth time that day.  
  
"Um, are you looking for someone?"  
  
"Yeah, I- uh- I was kinda hoping I would see Max again before I left. I told him I was leaving today."  
  
"I'm sure he would have liked to come see you, but was just too busy." He felt an unexpected and quite ridiculous little pang of jealousy against his own alter-ego. Mindy obviously cared about Max a lot. Well, at least she didn't have a crush on him or anything. That would be really gross. "Besides, you'll be back pretty soon."  
  
"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks. Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone."  
  
Josh sputtered in mock indignation. "Me? What about you? You get into way more trouble than me."  
  
"Only on rare ocassions. And, as I recall, most of the trouble I get into involves you somehow."  
  
Josh knew that she hadn't really meant anything by that. It was very apparent that Mindy had no idea that he and Max were one and the same person. He was very thankful for that. As nice as it would be to not have to lie to her about it or mislead her, it was safer if she didn't know. "When have I ever gotten you in trouble?" he retorted.  
  
"Well, let's see. There was the time you talked me into helping you take apart Uncle Jeff's power tools to see how they worked. And the time that you tried to make milkshakes and forgot to put the lid on the blender before you turned it on and got chocolate all over us and the walls and ceiling."  
  
"Okay, okay. That's enough now."  
  
"Or that time you borrowed Uncle Jeff's four-hundred-dollar suit and spray-painted it black so we could play Zorro."  
  
"Alright, enough already!" he said very loudly. Loud enough that people around them all stopped what they were doing to look at him. He flushed slightly. Clearing his throat, he gave them a weak smile.  
  
"Making a scene in the airport and making everyone stare at us," she added.  
  
He glared at her.  
  
Mindy snickered. "Not that that stuff wasn't fun, but..."  
  
Josh tried to continue glaring, but sterness and laughter were chasing each other across his face. Finally, he gave up and laughed, pulling her into a hug. "I'll see you when you get back."  
  
"Flight 117 now boarding at Gate 14."  
  
"I'd better get going," said Mindy with a sigh. She picked up her carry-on bag and slung it over her shoulder.  
  
"Oh, before I forget..." he took a small gift-wrapped box out of his pocket.  
  
"Oh, Josh, not another birthday present," she protested. He'd already given her a digital camcorder and a couple of cd's this morning. Not to mention Uncle Jeff's gifts, which had also been a bit extravagent.  
  
"Relax, it's not from me or my dad."  
  
She looked at him, confused. "Well then, who's it from?"  
  
He shrugged. "I mentioned to Berto that your birthday was coming up. I don't know what it is. Why don't you open it?"  
  
Mindy's eyebrows shot up. "Berto?"  
  
"Uh-hu."  
  
She took the box. For nearly a full minute, she just stared at it curiously.  
  
"Well? Hurry up and open it. I'm dying here!" demanded Josh. Mindy jumped.  
  
"Okay, okay. I'm opening it. Jeez, don't get your panties in a bunch."  
  
"I don't wear panties."  
  
"Um," Mindy said, trying to hold in her laughter, "Josh?"  
  
"What?" Then he noticed the very funny looks he was getting. He felt the blush rising to his face and did his damndest to suppress it. "I'm a guy. I wear boxers," he said, trying to grasp what was left of his dignity. It proved quite elusive as people smirked at him. "And I suppose you guys wear panties?" he asked, glaring at the amused males.  
  
"I think I'm going to open this now," said Mindy, traces of laughter still in her voice.  
  
Berto watched anxiously through the vid-link as Mindy took the box and began to unwrap it. He wondered how she was going to react.  
  
Mindy's eyes widened in surprise when she opened the box. Inside was the necklace she had seen at the fair. She removed it from the box and stared at it. Finally, she looked up at Josh. "Berto got this for me?"  
  
"Yep," he nodded.  
  
She hadn't seen a necklace like this anywhere else besides at that booth at the fair. Had he gone back for it? Or had he gotten it that day? And why would a guy like him buy a nice, expensive gift for a girl he barely knew?  
  
She bit her lip to keep from smiling. When she got back, she just might have to get to know Berto a little better.  
  
Then a thought came to her. She looked suspiciously at Josh. "How did you get this past security?"  
  
"Uh, um, well, uh-" He tried to think of an answer that wouldn't get him smacked or yelled at.  
  
"Final boarding call for flight 117 at Gate 14."  
  
"You'd better go before you miss your flight."  
  
She tried to scowl at him. "You so lucked out." She put the lid back on the box and stuffed it into her designer backpack. A gift from her uncle. "Bye." She hugged him again and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Bye. Hurry back."  
  
"Oh, sure, you say that now. When I get back you'll probably be begging me to go home," she joked.  
  
"Yeah, probably. Get going Morgan."  
  
"I'll see you before school starts. We still need to go shopping for supplies."  
  
He groaned. She laughed evily.  
  
Josh watched her her go through the gate. He moved to the window and tried to spot her at any of the plane windows. "I think she liked it, bro." he said quietly.  
  
"I hope so," said Berto.  
  
Josh waved to Mindy as she took her seat. She pressed her face against the window and waved back.  
  
"You know, it's going to take more than nice gifts to win her over."  
  
"We've been over this," said Berto in an exasperated tone. "I just think she's interesting. I never once said anything about dating her."  
  
"Uh-hu. Sure. And I told you I'm not buying it. You have a crush on her."  
  
"I do not!"  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"Do not."  
  
"Do too."  
  
"Do not."  
  
"Do too."  
  
"Do not!"  
  
A dog started barking in the background and Josh stiffled his laughter as Berto groaned.  
  
"Excuse me, I have to walk my new bundle of fur and fleas. We will continue this later."  
  
Josh nearly lost control and doubled over as he heard Berto yelling for the dog to get off of him and to stop slobbering on him. Berto was definately not thrilled to have been suckered into keeping the dog that Psycho had used to lure Mindy out of the house that night. Josh couldn't keep him himself and he didn't want to take him to a shelter because he would probably be put down. So, he had turned to Berto, who had immediately refused. But, he had finally given in after enough agents had told him that he needed something else in his life besides a computer and his job. He was even less thrilled with the idea upon finding out that Kat had taken it upon herself to name the dog. The name she had picked? Buttons. Because he was "cute as a button." Now, that was a phrase Josh had never, ever thought he would hear his partner say.  
  
Surprisingly, the dog had taken an immeadiate liking to Berto. He was constantly sitting up against him and licking him. With his leg healing nicely, he was also able to jump up on Berto. A source of great annoyance to the young scientist and great amusment to everyone else.  
  
"Well, one thing's for sure," he said to himself as he watched his cousin's plane take off. "Life is definately about to get a lot more interesting."  
  
The End...  
  
For now. 


End file.
